An inscription on the reverse reads: 'This portrait of Tupsy Jebe is painted by Hans Heyerdahl and belonged to Edv. Munch.... Tupsy Jebe was Munch's lover in Paris at the end of the 1890s.... Tupsy was an art student at the Colarossi art school. Munch executed a dry point of her, on the same zinc plate of which she did a portrait of Munch seated. Although Munch later spurned her advances, their bohemian relationship inspired him to retain this portrait as a keepsake in his collection. Heyerdahl and Munch first met in the autumn of 1888 in Åsgåstrand. Heyerdahl had a formative influence on the young Munch and the pair were in regular contact over the following 2 decades. Heyerdahl was a regular visitor to Paris from the late 1870s onwards, living there from 1900-06. (http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2009/19th-century-european-paintings-including-german-austrian-central-european-paintings-the-orientalist-sale-spanish-painting-and-the-scandinavian-sale-l09661/lot.98.html)