McEvoy was a society portraitist in a new manner, fast and impressionistic. He studied at the Slade with John and Orpen, and learnt from both Whistler and Sickert. Claude Johnson, whose second wife Evelyn Maud known as ‘Wigs’ was his patroness and the subject of this lively painting, was popularly described as ‘the hyphen in Rolls-Royce’, because as the Commercial Managing Director he was central to the success of the firm. McEvoy, who was a friend of the Johnsons and designed early advertisements for Rolls-Royce, painted their portraits in 1916 and 1917, and the couple owned several other pictures by him. Wigs Johnson sat for him many times, and was the model for the Tate’s 1926 painting.