National Gallery of Australia | Audio Tour | The Edwardians

John intended the idealised head of this figure to resemble a painting of the Virgin Mary by Dürer. The composition echoes the private and intimate domestic spaces painted by Dutch artists such as Vermeer. A few years before she painted A lady reading Rodin had given John money to move into an unfurnished room, and in this work she expressed her delight in having a room of her own.