In his typically simplified style, Aitchison has eschewed the teaching of his time at the Slade, with its tonalities and limited hues, to create a magnificent celebration of colour. Aitchison has used thin, almost scrubbed, paint which stains the canvas rather than lying upon it in layers, a subtle way to create something 'grand in scope, intention and achievement' (Andrew Lambirth, 1996). The present work closely relates to the Tate's 'Model and Dog' from 1974-5, also a reclining nude.

Aside from his native Scotland, the other main influence on his work was northern Italy, whose lights he likened to each other, also appreciating 'the lucidity of organisation and radical simplifications of trecento and quattrocento art [that] shaped his painting for the rest of his life.' (Guardian, Obituary, 2009). In fact, the present work was painted the year after he had acquired his Italian summer home near Siena.