Tempera, 35 by 51.5 cm (13 ¾ by 20 ¼ ins)

The Society of Painters in Tempera met in Harry Morley’s studio in the 1920s with attendees including Joseph Southall, Maxwell Armfield and Morley himself. Although the society had been formed as early as 1901, the medium was not taken seriously until the 1920s (when Morley joined) and not accepted for exhibition at the Royal Academy summer exhibition until after a seminal show  of Italian Art there in 1930. Morley was one of the medium’s great advocates spurred on by his love of Quattrocento art. This also extended to his choice of Classical subject and in addition to this painting, he made an etching of Venus and Cupid in 1928.