This sensitive early portrait of his cousin was painted in watercolour after Southall's first trip to Italy, where he had been delighted by Gozzoli and Carpaccio, but before he had mastered tempera, back in Birmingham, with Arthur Gaskin. The fastidious technique and glowing colour of this picture are typical of his best. Her hair is finished with strands of gold paint, adding lustre. Gertrude Southall was the artist's first cousin (Joseph's mother Eliza Southall, nee Elizabeth Maria Baker, was Gertrude's aunt), and the same age as him. They grew up on the same street, Charlotte Road in Edgbaston, Birmingham, and in 1891 they were living only 15 minutes' walk from each other. The Southalls and the Bakers were both distinguished Quaker families. Joseph Southall also married a Baker, another cousin, Anna Elizabeth Baker, in 1903.