When William Etty painted this realistic portrait of an unabashed nude figure--among many such studies he made to be sold independently on the art market--he shocked the art critics of his day. Because this nude was not idealized, journalists accused him of indecency. The painting's bold coloring, the woman's frank posture and reflective gaze, and the explicit depiction of underarm and pubic hair were too honest for his prudish contemporaries in the early 1800s.

J. Paul Getty bought this painting in the 1930s, early in his collecting career.