A painter and occasional printmaker, Helsted trained at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, graduating in 1866. He exhibited at the Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition (equivalent of the R.A. Summer show) in Copenhagen 1865-1907, and in Paris, Vienna and Munich. In 1869 he travelled to Paris and from about 1872-74 made a stay in Italy.
This original etching is printed in brown-black ink on chine appliqué on cream wove. The delightful dog, without the hornet, is a detail reprised from Helsted's painting A young Italian Girl playing with a Dog, painted in 1872.