Aitchison’s Easter egg paintings were first inspired by gaudy, Italian-produced chocolate eggs. He saw these eggs while travelling in Italy and then more regularly after he bought a property in Montecastelli in 1977. He spoke to Andrew Lambirth in 2004 about his Easter egg paintings, explaining that the first one I started in London was of an egg I got in the local bar in Italy. As soon as I saw it I thought I could try to paint it, so I brought it back. Now the ones I do I get from an Italian shop in South Lambeth Road. Baker’s Egg is one of Aitchison’s earliest Easter egg paintings. The egg was a gift to Aitchison from Jonathan Robinson, a close friend of the artist’s whose childhood nickname was ‘Baker’. It is unclear whether the egg itself was inscribed with ‘Baker’ or if Aitchison added the inscription in the painting. Robinson was born on Easter day and had a lifelong interest in the festival. In a characteristically playful arrangement, the chocolate egg is balanced on an elaborate chinaware candleholder. The candleholder is composed of a top hat which is in turn being savaged by the figurine of a pussy cat. Beside this distinctive item of kitsch, a striking compositional clarity is provided by three consecutive bands of closely related vermilion. Aitchison paid close attention to the surface quality of his paintings and each band of colour in Baker’s Egg has a different characteristic; while the middle band is dry and mat, the upper layer has a fluid, even liquid quality.