Lares is based on the shape of Nash''s fireplace. The title of the work is Latin. ''Lares'' were ghosts of the dead, gods of crossroads and household deities, including the god of the hearth. Read got to know Nash in 1933 in the context of Unit One, a group led by Nash, that included Hepworth, Moore, Nicholson and Wadsworth. The stylistic difference between the members meant that the group soon fell apart. Though verging on abstraction, Nash''s work still clearly depicted actual objects, while other members tended towards total abstraction.