This watercolour relates to Ethel Walker’s Decoration for Spring: The Waking Earth, a subject which is known from an unfinished large-scale mural hanging and two medium-sized paintings on canvas. The figures fulfil an allegorical function and behave as embodied symbols for the seasons; the youthful pubescent body of the kneeling figure pertains to the nascent, emergent quality of spring. A strong sense of esoteric ritual is apparent, and the central figure is in the process of being garlanded and robed in red drapery. A central feature of Walker’s output was large-scale mural-like paintings, described by her as ‘decorations’, which represent lyrical scenes and were composed from a large cast of nude and semi-nude female figures. The creative endeavour of making such large, complex compositions was enabled by a traditional studio practice—encouraged by Walker’s one-time tutor Walter Sickert—where paintings were developed using preparatory drawings of single figures and small groups. It is uncertain at which stage of the process Walker made this watercolour study, and she seems to have re-drawn sections of a painting or individual figures after the principal large-scale decoration was finished. This watercolour may have been made either in preparation for the decoration or after its completion.