Beginning around 1910, Sickert began systematically to treat a single subject in plates of different sizes. In the case of Ennui (1915) he made ‘small’, ‘medium’ and ‘large’ plates. He typically began with a large plate in which he made a loose sketch of his design. Only a few large plates were finished and published; others such as Sally (1911) or A Little Cheque (1914) were printed in small numbers. He took greater care with the small plates, and most were fully resolved and made ready for publication.

Between 1910 and 1914, Sickert made many two-figure genre scenes in Camden Town that are among his best-known work. Several including Ennui and Jack Ashore were studied from life in his room—a first-floor front—on the corner of Granby Street and the Hampstead Road. He referred to this address as Wellington House Academy after a school that operated from the premises in the early nineteenth century. Charles Dickens had been a day scholar there and based some of David Copperfield on his experiences at the school, which fired Sickert’s interest.