This picture was painted in St. Ives in Cornwall, England. Helene Schjerfbeck visited the region twice in the late 1880s. The sitter in the picture was a vivacious girl of about six to whom her exasperated teacher was only too glad to give leave to sit for artists. The painting was included in the Paris Salon the year of its completion under the title Première verdure, or ‘first greenery’. A sick child was a common subject in art at the time, but Schjerfbeck’s painting is also about recovery and the return of vitality. The brushwork is lively and the treatment of light is reminiscent of impressionism. The painting was praised in Paris. The reception back home was initially controversial – the picture was considered excessively realistic. However, the Finnish Art Society decided to purchase it, and soon after its completion the painting was acceded to Ateneum’s collection. Helene Schjerfbeck had an exceptionally long and productive career. She began art studies at the age of 11, and by the time she died at 83 she had painted well over a thousand pictures. Her path as an artist ranged from history paintings in the 1870s to modernist movements in the 1940s.