Background Niels Skovgaard was the son of
P. C. Skovgaard and
Georgia Skovgaard. Grundtvig was a close friend of the family. He conducted the ceremony at the parents' wedding and their children Niels,
Joakim and
Suzette were also baptized by him. Niels Skovgaard and his brother Joakim were also good friends of Grundtvig's two sons. Throughout his career, Skovgaard received numerous commissions from independent Grundtvigian congregations and
folk high Schools. Grundtvig died in 1872. A statue of him by
Vilhelm Bissen was installed at the
Frederick's Church construction site in 1894. In 1904, Rasmus Bøgebjerg proposed another Grundtvig statue. His proposal depicted Grundtvig with a lark sitting on his left hand. The proposal was subject to a prolonged debate. He had proposed a bell tower. It was later expanded into the monumental
Grundtvig's Church (1921–1940).
Creating the sculpture Skovgaard kept working on his 1912 proposal. In 1925 he was finally commissioned by the Nt Carlsberg Foundation to create a granite version of the sculpture for Vartov's courtyard. ==Preliminary works==