Lady in white at a lakeside

Adolf Hiremy-Hirschl was born in Hungary and raised in Vienna, where he studied at the Akademie der bildenden Künste. After receiving prizes for his paintings, he visited Rome, where his experiences had a deep effect on his work and where he later spent the last 35 years of his life. He received considerable acclaim from critics for his complex compositions of allegorical and historical subjects.

Hiremy-Hirschl produced many etchings in charcoal featuring drapery and figures, used as preparatory studies for his paintings such as the present one. This composition mixes two common themes in his work, females figures and landscapes. Notably, a few of the artist's important paintings are lost, including The Plague in Rome of 1884.