National Galleries of Scotland

Despite the vast scale of this painting, the face appears shy and thoughtful, even downcast, and is half-covered in shadow. The artist has applied the paint with a sponge, modelling the form in blocks of colour. This emphasises surface texture and produces subtle colour effects, creating a sense of delicacy which seems at odds with the large size of the picture. This painting is one of a number of works Hardie made which were based on her own body, but it is not a self-portrait. Her paintings are concerned with feminine physicality, and here she presents the female body without a suggestion of narrative or context.