Etty devoted his career largely to painting the nude, both in a very numerous series of life studies and in such finished classical subjects as this. He was inspired by 16th-century Venetian artists, such as Titian and Veronese, and particularly by the 17th-century Flemish master, Rubens. He was constantly criticised in the press for what was perceived as the indecency of his works. He referred to his critics as ‘noodles’.