Long was born at Kelston, near Bath. Although portraiture provided him with a good living in Bath, he was keen to broaden his horizons. By the late 1850s he was travelling around Europe in search of inspiration. He moved away from Bath permanently, but never lost his fondness for the city and called his London home 'Kelston'. He became very famous for painting exotic scenes set in foreign countries, featuring beautiful young women.

Long visited Spain in the 1850s. This work is presumably an idealised version of scenes that he witnessed there. The sitter, with her peasant clothes and basket of fruit, appears to be an orange picker. Valencia has long been known for its orange farms. A healthy and happy young worker, she is typical of the artist's idealised view of womanhood.