A significant Newlyn work by Henry Meynell Rheam. Throughout much of his career Rheam had 2 distinct oeuvres; his Newlyn 'real life' subjects and his more romantic, Pre-Raphaelite works. Whilst this painting is clearly part of the former, there are clear influences from the artist's Pre-Raphaelite body of work, particularly in his draftsmanship and colouring of the main figure - and the choice of a woodland - a favourite environment of the Pre-Raphaelites. The painting was executed by Rheam whilst he still lived in Newlyn. A year later in 1914, he moved to the adjacent town of Penzance. As a significant and sizeable painting by the artist, it is likely to have been exhibited at the Royal Society of British Artists or the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour, where Rheam regularly showed his works. It is a fine example of why Henry Meynell Rheam was regarding as one of the best Newlyn watercolourists particularly with regard to his ability to convincingly capture the human form. As a reviewer commented at the Opening Exhibition of the Newlyn Art Gallery in 1895, "Among the watercolour men who choose figure subjects, Mr Rheam is conspicuous."