The critic, translator and writer David Sprengel was famous for his satirical malice. Over time, he made many enemies in the arts. Nils Dardel was one of the people Sprengel had clashed with, and his watercolour portrait from 1918 therefore has to be regarded as a pure caricature of the elegant, slender-limbed writer. In 1921, Sprengel married the author Agnes von Krusenstjerna, whom he supported with great dedication for many years.