This is one of several drawings that Lambert made of Gladys Collins in 1922. As with his oil portrait of Miss Collins, The white glove (cat.85), Lambert shows her as having a pleasant, confident personality with smiling eyes and mouth. Lambert treated her face simply and without an attempt to force the features into the conventional 1920s ideal of beauty. He gave the right hand some prominence, touching the face.

This drawing has been recorded as a study for The white glove , but although the sitter is the same as in The white glove , the drawing is dated a year later than the painting.