Peter Hansen has portrayed one of Faaborg’s great master painters, Erich Nielsen Knippel (1834–1923), who in addition to being a master painter taught at the town’s Technical School, where the teaching staff also included the artist’s father, Syrak Hansen. Furthermore, E.N. Knippel was the father of one of Peter Hansen’s fellow pupils at The Artists’ Independent Study Schools, Carl Knippel (1867–1956).

The portrait is a preliminary study for a large group picture that Peter Hansen painted in the years 1910–12,[1] having been commissioned to do so by the local businessman Mads Rasmussen, who wanted to immortalise the day of Faaborg Museum’s inauguration, 24 July 1910. Peter Hansen worked on the group picture over the course of two years. His reference material consisted of a photograph taken of the assembled company at the inauguration ceremony, as well as of his own pencil and oil sketches of the forty-two people to be included in the picture.

Faaborg Museum is one of Denmark’s first museums devoted to art. Its founder was the aforementioned Mads Rasmussen, who wanted to pay tribute to the art created in and around the South Funen area. Faaborg Museum was designed by the architects Carl Petersen (1874–1923) and Kaare Klint (1888–1954), who also created several of the exhibition rooms at The David Collection.