This portrait is one of a pair (the other being of Mrs. Robert Solomon), commissioned in 1945 by the Ben Uri Society of two of its most prominent members: the sitter, Cyril J Ross, was a prominent figure in Jewish circles. Together with Mrs Solomon, he was introduced to the Ben Uri by Alfred Wolmark in the 1930s and became Ben Uri's longstanding Treasurer. He was also owner of the West End furriers store Swears & Wells, which provided secure storage to safeguard the Ben Uri Collection in its vaults during the Second World War and helped the Ben Uri acquire the house in Portman Street that would be its base until 1959. He was also President of the Soup Kitchen for the Jewish Poor for more than thirty years, and kept it running throughout the Second World War; he was awarded the OBE for his services in 1947. He was also an amateur artist, taking up painting in his forties, and his portraits include one of Alfred Wolmark (Ben Uri Collection). Kemeny worked within the Realist tradition: the thinly applied paint and careful precision are reminiscent of the Euston Road School of Painting, presided over by William Coldstream, with the muted palette reflecting the austerity of Britain in the postwar period.