From 1941 the artist painted a series of portraits of his wife. This one, executed while they were living at Chiswick, is probably the finest. Its composition derives from portraits by the Dutch old master Johannes Vermeer (1632-75), but the dark, rich tonalities and immediacy of vision are characteristic of Pasmore. He once observed 'The ultimate test of a painting of a man is surely not whether it looks like him, but whether it feels like him'.