Born in Birmingham, Fleetwood-Walker served during the first World War in France as a sniper in the Artist's Rifles. He was wounded and gassed, but various studies exist showing that he continued to draw while awaiting his return to England. Fiercely loyal to his roots, he declared he was proud to be the only Royal Academician from Birmingham who still lived and worked there, and was particularly pleased to have been elected President of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists in 1950.

Another study for the painting is inscribed ‘Miss D Hall’, with an address; she may have been the model. The Birmingham Mail, 3 May 1940, called the finished work ‘a quiet, soft-toned painting’.