A Wounded Danish Soldier And His Betrothed

A Wounded Danish Soldier and his Betrothed, by Madame Jerichau, 1870. Engraving of a painting, by the '...wife of the distinguished Danish sculptor...[It is]...one of the artist's most successful efforts; it was painted shortly after the war in Holstein...The circumstances of that Prusso-Danish war are still fresh in the memory...we all recollect the brave stand made by the little Danish army against the overwhelming odds brought by its gigantic neighbour...when...we reflect how much there is in the Danish national character resembling that of our own people...we shall then better appreciate the touching story suggested by this picture, [and] we shall then have its pathos brought home to us almost as nearly as if it were an English cottage scene. We need not dwell on the true womanly refinement shown in the artist's treatment of her theme. The life of the wounded man, perhaps, still hangs in the balance; but, if he recover, he will surely owe more to the soothing, gentle nursing of that true-hearted girl now reading to him from the Book of Life [ie the Bible] than to the surgeon's skill or the whole Pharmacopaeia'. From "Illustrated London News", 1870. Creator: Unknown. (Photo by The Print Collector/Heritage Images via Getty Images)