Jacob Maris stayed in Paris from 1865-1871. There, on the Rue Marcadet, he shared a studio first with the painter F.H. Kaemerer (1839-1902) and later with D.A.C. Artz (1837-1890).

Probably on the advice of Goupil the french art-dealer Maris worked at the Studio of Ernest Hebert for some time.
Hebert studied in Italy for a considerable period. He was very succesful with his paintings representing the italian life of the people amongst which "Les filles d'Alvito" and "Rosa nera à la fontaine".
At the same time Corot made some so called "Italiennes" following Hebert.
Between 1867-1869 Maris used these "Italiennes" as an example and it became one of his specialities. Goupil persuaded Maris to use this genre regularly.
The popularity of this category enabled him to put many of his "Italian girls" on the french and american art-market.

Maris and his brother Matthys jokingly called these pictures "potboilers": it kept the pot boiling.

Comparable work is to be found in the "Haags Gemeente Museum", (knitting woman on the balcony, Montmartre, 1869). And especially "Italian girl with butterflies" from a private collection (cf. exh. cat. "Een kunstenaarsfamilie: Maris, Singermuseum Laren 1991, pp. 24-25) is a very good example of this genre.

See colour illustration