The sitter Paulette Pavlides was the daughter of the Greek Cypriot businessman and politician Sir Paul George Pavlides (1897-1977). She was educated in England and presented at court as a debutante. She later studied art in Paris. In 1957 the work was described by the art critic of 'The Times' as 'a portrait of notable merit'.

Sir Paul served as one of the two Greek Cypriot members of the Executive Council of Cyprus (1933-36, 1940-42, 1946-55). He was awarded the CBE in 1949 and was knighted in 1955 for his efforts to calm the tensions between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities, but as an advocate of Cypriot independence, he resigned from the Cyprus Executive Council in Sptember 1955 'in protest at the continuing British failure to consider granting the island self-determination [...] Threatened with assassination by the EOKA (National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters) terrorists of Colonel Grivas, who accused him of beng a British collaborator', he and Paulette left Cyprus first for Athens and then Monte Carlo (J. Black, Dora Gordine: Sculptor, Artist, Designer, 2007, p. 235, cat 53).