Joseph Kestner describes Tuke as 'the greatest painter of the male nude in Victorian painting'. Falmouth, virtually surrounded by sea, enjoys a very special reflected light and Tuke studied it closely. He observed the rich colour in soft shadows and how sunlight reflects through and off the water. This is what sets him apart and led A. B. Cooper to aptly call him 'The Sunshine Painter'. The donor, Alfred de Pass (1861–1952), was a Cape Town-born businessman and philanthropist, and the artist's friend.

In Cooper’s interview with Tuke in Pearson’s Magazine 1920 the artist confided 'it interests me more than anything else in life – the play of outdoor light and sunshine on the human form.' This sensitive observation of light can be witnessed not only in his Royal Academy exhibits, but also in the hundreds of masterly oil and watercolour studies, like this one, painted en plein air.