A pencil study for this subject was exhibited at London, Goupil Gallery, Works by Mark Gertler, John Nash and Gilbert Spencer, May 1926, no.13. This was purchased by John Mavrogordato for 15 guineas and presented to the Contemporary Art Society in 1936. It is now in the collection of the British Museum, London.

The model for this work is Alice Edwards, a young cockney girl and professional model, who often sat at the Slade School during the 1920s. She was a particular favourite of Gertler's and also appears in the Young Girlhood series of paintings from 1923-25.