This painting is a rare example of Scottish Surrealism. It was painted as a wedding present for the artist James McIntosh Patrick. McIntosh Patrick said of Baird's gift, “It rather shocked me as he painted so few pictures yet he gave this one away. He was our best man and, being a sentimental person, he chose Venus, the goddess of love, as the subject of the painting. He was a keen Scottish Nationalist; he also admired Botticelli and Crivelli, the Renaissance painters. Hence the 'Scottish Venus' as he called it, arose out of his associations with a wedding, his involvement with Scottish Nationalism, his love for messing about in boats, and his love of Botticelli.”