Jessica Hayllar was the oldest of the four daughters of James Hayllar, all of whom became artists. They were instructed by their father and, like him, painted genre subjects, mainly scenes of everyday life at Castle Priory, Wallingford, Berkshire, where the family lived from 1875 to 1899. According to Christopher Wood ('The Artistic Family Hayllar', Connoisseur, May 1974, p.5), 'her best works were done in the years 1885 to 1900', a period which covers the present and the following pictures.