Painter and porcelain artist Carl Martin-Hansen was born in Kolding, Jutland, Denmark in 1877. He first studied decorative ceramics as an apprentice with H. Christian Petersen, then attended Vermehren's painter's school before enrolling in the Academy of Arts in 1897. He was especially known for his porcelain figurines of the people of the Netherlands and Greenland wearing traditional dress, including rare figures of Inuit children.

Martin-Hansen was awarded several scholarships to travel and study in Germany, France, and Italy throughout his career, and in 19110 he won a gold medal the Worlds Fair in Brussels. From 1904 to 1909 he participated in the restoration of the tomb of Queen Margrethe of Roskilde. He died in Copenhagen in 1941.