Following studies at St John’s Wood School of Art (1907-8), Nevinson attended the Slade between 19-08-12 and then the Academie Julian in Paris (1912-13), where he shared a studio with Modigliani and made friends with Severini. Interested in Cubism and Futurism, Nevinson was one of the first English artists to be deeply influenced by new developments in Europe at that time; his work was included in the Post-impressionists and Futurists exhibitions at the Dore Gallery in 1913, and he organized a banquet for the Futurist leader Marinetti in London that year. He wrote with Marinetti, “Vital English Art: A Futurist Manifesto”, published in the Observer in 1914. He also contributed to the second issue of Blast and was made an Official War Artist in 1917. Nevinson was something of a genius, hugely accomplished in a variety of media. He worked in several styles during his life time. This acutely observed and technically faultless pastel is as fresh and arresting today, as the day it was created. The charlady’s daughter resigned, yet defient, expression and awkward angularity of her young limbs is masterfully caught and expresses the social hierarchy of her day.