In 1914, Sickert set up new studios in Red Lion Square, Holborn, first at number 24 and then next door at number 26. They were on the north side of the square: ‘Facing south is what takes me’, he declared. He installed a printing press at 26 Red Lion Square, which became a productive site for painting and etching war-related compositions. A grand piano on the first floor featured in his Tipperary pictures, and it was here that he made studies for Soldiers of King Albert the Ready, a large propaganda picture calculated to stir emotions at a time when the fate of Belgium was a matter of widespread public concern. As he wrote to Nan Hudson, ‘[m]ilitary paintings have a definite patriotic and recruiting value.’ During its gestation, Sickert also mentioned in passing: ‘I am etching my Belgian subject.’ Five different states of the print were first distinguished by Harold Wright. Despite such an extended development of the plate, however, Sickert decided not to include it in his Carfax series of etchings, which was ongoing at the time. Only a small number of impressions were made from the plate. There are two known impressions of the first state of this print; the other example is owned by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.