Focusing on a single subject in an unadorned background and using typically tactile, expressive brushwork, Soutine depicts an anonymous, working-class figure in the uniform of her trade. Capturing her expression of weariness and submission, he underlines the maid’s individuality rather than reducing it. Born to a poor Jewish-Lithuanian family, Soutine drew from an early age, studying at the School of Fine Arts, Vilna (1910–1913) and the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris (1913–1915). He was closely associated with the group of foreign-born, predominantly Jewish artists, known as the ‘École de Paris’. His oeuvre included densely painted, visceral landscapes and an important series of Rembrandt-inspired beef carcasses painted in a characteristic, expressionistic style.