In this drawing Lambert depicted Thea Proctor wearing an elegant dress and shawl, sitting on a chaise longue , with downcast eyes and her head slightly tipped to one side. Proctor herself made many drawings and watercolours, in which she depicted dreamy figures leading apparently idle lives, as Lambert portrayed her in this work.

To supplement her income, Proctor posed regularly for Lambert for his illustrative work and for his paintings. She did so from 1903 when she arrived in London until 1909 when she sat for him for his large portrait group The blue hat (Kerry Stokes Collection, Perth).

Lambert started to sign some of his works ‘G.W. Lambert of NSW’ in 1901 while living in Paris and continued to do so during his first few years in London. Works signed thus were mostly drawings for illustrations and Amy Lambert suggested that he signed them in this fashion to differentiate himself from another illustrator called G.W. Lambert. Given the extended signature, and the narrative title of this drawing (inscribed on the verso), it is likely that Lambert made The simpler life for an untraced illustration, or one that was never published.