This quiet and radiantly colored nude by noted muralist Kenyon Cox was once a part of the pioneering collection of American paintings amassed by William T. Evans, who was the largest collector of American art before World War I. In the catalog accompanying the Evans sale, a biography of Kenyon Cox notes: “Years ago our exhibitions contained more pictures of the nude than now, a fact that is explained probably by the important commissions for mural painting given out of late which have absorbed the creative power of many of our most accomplished figure painters. Kenyon Cox is one of those who was formerly a frequent contributor of works having the nude for a subject, and an easel canvas by him of he sort is now a rarity. His skills as a draughts-man and the fine decorative quality of his composition have long been recognized. As a designer and illustrator Mr. Cox’s work is widely known and generally conceded to belong in the first rank, because of its intellectual, scholarly composition, and, as in his nude subjects, its masterly knowledge of the figure.”