Lot Essay
The artist can be seen reflected in the mirror on the left of the painting. The dancer is Lydia Lopokova, who later married the economist Maynard Keynes in 1925. 'In 1919 Lydia allowed the future Dame Laura Knight to use her dressing-room at the London Coliseum as a studio ... Laura painted two other oils of Lydia: one shows her standing in front of a mirror dressed for the Can-Can, while her dresser adjusts the back of her costume' (M. Keynes (loc. cit.).