Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann (née Elisabeth Maria Anna Baumann) was born in Poland of German parents. In E. Jerichau-Baumann’s memoirs of her youth, which were published in 1874, she describes her early determination to be an artist in order to become financially independent. In 1838 she therefore travelled to Berlin to become a painter. She applied to the Akademie der Künste but was rejected by the German painter, and professor at the academy, Julius B. Hübner (1806–1882). She then travelled to Düsseldorf, where she stayed until 1845. From 1838 to 1844 she was admitted as a private student at the progressive Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. In the following year, she undertook her Grand Tour and travelled to Rome, where she became a member of first the German and then the Danish artistic sphere. In Rome she met the Danish sculptor Jens Adolf Jerichau (1816–1883). They married in 1846 and lived in Rome until 1848, but with frequently travels to both Germany and Denmark. E. Jerichau-Baumann then moved to Copenhagen, initially by herself. She became a life-long friend of Queen Louise, whom she depicted in a full figure portrait: Dronning Louise [Portrait of Louise of Hesse-Kassel, 1881]. In 1849 E. Jerichau-Baumann made her debut at the Spring Exhibition at Charlottenborg in Copenhagen. Here, she exhibited thirty-one times throughout her life.

In 1852 E. Jerichau-Baumann travelled to London for the first time, exhibiting at Bridgewater Gallery, Buckingham Palace and later the Royal Academy, and in 1860, she took her first trip to Paris. In 1881 E. Jerichau-Baumann published a memoir of her many travels, Brogede rejsebilleder [Vivid Travel Scenes]. In addition to those already mentioned, her destinations included Constantinople (now Istanbul), Athens, Smyrna (now Izmir), Alexandria, Cairo and Saint Petersburg. Because of her gender, E. Jerichau-Baumann was allowed into the Turkish Harems, which were normally prohibited for foreigners. This led to unique depictions of women, who had normally been depicted through a male and orientalising gaze, as seen in En egyptisk pottesælgerkse i Gizeh [An Egyptian Pot Seller at Gizeh, 1876–1878]. E. Jerichau-Baumann sold her paintings to members of high society, including the French Emperor Napoleon III, the Egyptian viceroy Isma’il Pasha and Queen Victoria.

In 1858 E. Jerichau-Baumann received den Thorvaldsenske Udstillingsmedalje [The Thorvaldsen Medal], in 1861 she became a member of the Academy in Copenhagen, and in 1866 she won the minor gold medal at Akademie der Künste, Berlin, for the painting En strandingsscene [A Stranding Scene, 1867]. In 1867 the Royal Collection of Paintings, now SMK – National Gallery of Denmark, acquired the painting En såret dansk kriger [A Wounded Danish Soldier, 1865] – the only painting it purchased in the artists’ career, as her European style was not aligned with the nationalistic tendencies then applauded at the Gallery. E. Jerichau Baumann is also represented in the collections of Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (Copenhagen), Kunsten Museum of Modern Art (Aalborg) and the Museum of National History Frederiksborg Castle (Hillerød), as well as the Royal Danish Collections. Outside Denmark she is represented in collections such as the National Museums of Norway and Sweden and the British Royal Collections.