The dating of this painting is somewhat confusing. Next to Anna Ancher's signature is the date 1884, but on the verso, the museum director Karl Madsen has dated it to 1879. So there you are. The model is Ane Normand, daughter of Per Normand.
The garden in question was the one belonging to Brøndums Hotel in Skagen. Anna Ancher also made a smaller version, which could be seen as a study. See "Other versions".
The present painting is a study for “Vorherre modtager det døde Barn” (Our Lord Receives the Dead Child), which was exhibited at Charlottenborg, Copenhagen in 1918, no. 14.
The Ancher expert Elisabeth Fabritius wrote that Anna Ancher probably made three versions of the harvest girl painting around 1903, of which this is the largest. For some reason she gave it the date 1911, but that could be in order to make it feasible for the 1913 Charlottenborg exhibition, where it was shown. Fabritius wrote that after 1900 it happened still more often that the dating of the artist is not consistent with the year the painting was actually done.
This painting was donated by Anna Ancher to the Danish artist's lottery for the benefit of the Defence collection in 1913. It was won by sergeant Alfred Kruse.
This is one of the studies for the artist's 1903 painting Et missionsmøde (A field sermon). See "Other versions".
Anna Ancher - På havebænken - HAF 2002.jpg On the garden bench. This work was included in the 1994 book about Anna Ancher and her works, but it was stated that it might also have been a painting by Michael Ancher. The two persons on the bench were Helga Ancher and possibly Ane Thorup. In the book the date was given as the early 1890s. The painting could also be seen as a study for a later work by Anna Ancher, exhibited in 1933. See "Other versions".
The 1888 date is highly dubious. It is not mentioned in Kunstindeks Danmark, which is the most trustworthy source available. Furthermore, the painting shows Michael Ancher and Helene Christensen as what appears to be elderly, portly people, suggesting a date much later in their lives.
The Helga Ancher reference seems dubious. The child does not appear to be around six years old. Compare with Helga's appearance in Hip Hip Hurra from 1888. So this might be based on recollection.
Ingeborg Hirschsprung wrote to Anna Ancher about receiving this painting in October 1916. Source: Anna og Michael Ancher. Breve og fotografier. Letter no. 2880.
The experts at Bruun Rasmussen did not mention it, but this might be a study for Anchers painting from 1918, En skagensfisker i et udhus bygget af en gammel fiskerbåd gør kur til en ung pige (A fisherman of Skagen in a shed built from an old boat, courting a young woman). See "Other versions".