Gertler carried out both the painted and drawn versions of this striking female portrait in 1912. Although there is no violin in either picture, the sitter, a friend of the family, was a music student. She also modelled for and is recognisable in Gertler’s semi-autobiographical allegory, The Fruit Sorters, 1914.

This fine pencil study demonstrates the assured draughtsmanship for which Gertler earned a string of prizes at the Slade, including ‘first prize for drawing of the head’ and three further prizes for head painting, and where he also gained a reputation as the successor to the star pupil of a former generation, Augustus John. Gertler’s drawing technique exemplifies the Italianate style impressed upon his students by the famously acerbic drawing master Henry Tonks, using a firm, dark outline to cheek and jaw, fine-modelling of the features and soft shading to the neck and hair. Despite the experimental nature of his work over the next decade, this careful draughtsmanship would underpin Gertler’s figurative work for the rest of his career.