This piece was originally presented as part of a series of fifty paintings entitled, ‘Once upon our time: Portrait Miniatures by Moyna Flannigan’ which showed alongside ‘Portrait Miniatures from the National Galleries of Scotland’. The works in Flannigan's exhibition were a new departure for the artist and explored a variety of characters, from older women in big dresses to romantic young men with high collars. To recreate an authentic luminous quality, Flannigan learned how to paint onto vellum. The loose brushwork of her portraits sits in stark contrast with the minutely detailed portrait miniatures from the Scottish National Portrait Gallery’s existing collection which inspired her work.