In 1937 Pasmore was instrumental in setting up the Euston Road School of Painting, with two other painters, Claude Rogers and William Coldstream. The purpose of the Euston Road School was to teach traditional disciplines and the adoption of an objective approach to the chosen subject. The School closed in 1939 with the onset of war, but Pasmore continued to paint in the manner of its teachings during the 1940s. He produced a series of small and tender portrait and nude studies of his wife, Wendy, whom he married in June 1940. This is one of them and it presents Wendy Pasmore in a quiet and intimate manner, with the parted curtains adding to the private nature of the scene.