The scene with the dying soldier receiving the last rites was close at hand for Nils Forsberg. During the Franco-Prussian War in 1870–1871, he worked as a medic. The soldier was modelled on one of the many casualties Forsberg encountered in the siege of Paris. The scene is set in the Notre Dame, which served as a field hospital. The painting was a success at the Paris Salon of 1888 and made Forsberg famous. The merchant August Röhss bought the painting and toured it in Sweden before donating it to the Nationalmuseum in 1889.