This portrait of Irish-born Eileen Tooker (née Aird) was painted over several sittings. A visitor to Roberts’ studio during these sessions noted that Eileen was a ‘nice’ and ‘friendly’ woman. Her family life in Rockhampton, Queensland, however, proved to be an unhappy one and she eventually left her husband and two daughters and remained estranged from her family. Roberts demonstrates some of her undoubted reserve in the averted gaze and covered face.