Sickert first came to Bath during the First World War, when he was forced to give up his normal practice of painting abroad. He loved Bath’s Georgian architecture, slightly seedy and soiled by that date, and the way the buildings and streets appeared to stretch effortlessly into the surrounding hills. Sickert’s affection for Bath brought him back there for his final years. He is buried in Bathampton churchyard. Most of Sickert’s Bath paintings focus on a few specific locations; he would paint several versions of each view. Interestingly, this is the only documented view of the Assembly Rooms.