Jerichau was born in
Copenhagen, Denmark. His father was the sculptor
Jens Adolf Jerichau, and his mother was the painter
Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann. His younger brother,
Holger H. Jerichau, also became a painter, while his older brother,
Thorald Jerichau, was a composer. He received his first formal drawing lessons from the architect
C. V. Nielsen, then studied perspective at the
Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 1868. Later, he received lessons from
Frederik Christian Lund and
Eiler Rasmussen Eilersen. Jerichau first exhibited in Copenhagen in 1873. This was followed by a trip to Italy with his mother. In Rome, he was a pupil of
Jean-Achille Benouville, who at that time was director of the
French Academy. After six months there, he made a study trip to Turkey and Greece, spent some time in Paris, visited Switzerland, and, in 1874, returned to Istanbul with his mother. Since he was a boy, he had been engaged to his cousin, Maria Kutzner, who was the daughter of his mother's sister. In 1875, she came to Istanbul and they were married. Their first child died at the age of three months. Believing the climate in Turkey to be unfavorable, they moved to Naples. A year later, Maria became violently ill and died in November 1876. In the aftermath of the death of his wife, he considered suicide but slowly regained his will to live. In 1878, just as he was beginning to restart his career, he died from a combination of
typhus and "Italian ague" (
malaria). He was buried at the Protestant Cemetery,
Cimitero Acattolico at
Testaccio in
Rome. His mother completed a book of remembrance,
Til erindring om Harald Jerichau, which was first published during 1879. In 1879, a small exhibition of his works was held in Copenhagen, featuring scenes painted in
Turkey that had been commissioned by the brewer,
J.C. Jacobsen. Among the works on display was
The Plain at Sardes (1878) which had completed during his travels. ==Selected paintings==