The etude of the model with bare shoulders and her hand on her chest is modern in some senses, depicted as she is in the homogenous earthy tones typical of studio painting in the era. The upturned face and hand over her heart were inherited from confessional paintings. Artists often positioned models in secularized poses that needed to be just intricate enough to serve as good etudes; given the young woman’s pose here, it was an early study work, centered on capturing her face and hand, both its angle and the detail on the fingers.

At the academy in Munich, Vesel attended classes under Ludwig von Löfftz (who also taught Anton Ažbe and who became the head of the academy in 1891), where they painted nude models, including women.