At this time, he painted the first version of "Ave Maria" (Segantini Museum, St. Moritz), which took a gold medal at the 1883 World's Fair in Amsterdam. As his fame rose, Segantini entered into a formal agreement with the Grubicys to be the sole representatives of his work. While this allowed Segantini more freedom to pursue his artistry, the dealers were consistently slow in fulfilling their financial obligations to the artists. The family struggled for many years in relative poverty, even as Bice gave birth to four children: Gottardo (1882–1974 ), Alberto (1883–1904), Mario (1885–1916) and Bianca (1886–1980). To help Bice care for his family, Segantini employed a young maid, Barbara "Baba" Uffer, who also became his favorite model for his paintings. Baba stayed with the family throughout their periods of penury and many households, but unlike many artist/model relationships of the time there is no evidence that they had any romantic involvement.