Hilda Carline studied at Percyval Tudor-Hart’s School of Painting in Hampstead (1913) and served with the Women’s Land Army (1916–18), before enrolling at the Slade School of Fine Art under Henry Tonks in 1918. Quickly gaining critical recognition, she exhibited at the LG (1921), the RA and the NEAC. This impressive start to her career faltered, particularly after she married, in 1925, the artist Stanley Spencer (1891–1959). Their turbulent union resulted in periods when Carline hardly painted at all, but after her divorce in 1937, Carline began working more frequently once again, producing numerous pastels which explored her religious beliefs. This early work is likely to show the sitting room at 3 Park Crescent, Oxford, where the Carlines lived from 1904 to early 1916.
Johnathan Black has suggested that this shows the sitting room at 3 Park Crescent, Oxford where the Carlines lived from 1904 to early 1916.