Mermaid (Jerichau-Baumann)

Mermaid (Danish: (En) Havfrue), painted in 1873, is the last of at least four oil on canvas paintings of mermaids painted by the Polish-Danish painter Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann. It depicts a mermaid with a melancholic facial expression, leaning against a rock in shallow water, with a night sky residing over a moonlit sea in the background. Purchased by Carl Jacobsen in 1877, it is now in the collection of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. One of Baumann-Jerichau's earlier mermaid paintings was presented to Hans Christian Andersen as a birthday present and is now in the Funen Art Museum. The two other mermaid paintings are in private collections.