Henry Moore was one of the greatest 20th-century sculptors. After the Second World War, he became Britain’s best-known artist both at home and abroad. He was influenced by European Modernism and developed an abstract sculptural language, combining the human figure, particularly the female figure, with references to organic forms such as shells, pebbles and bones.

Early in his career, Moore worked primarily in stone and often conceived his ideas two-dimensionally via preparatory drawings. By the early 1950s, Moore shifted away from using drawings as sculptural studies and began to cast initial iterations of his artistic vision in the form of clay and bronze maquettes. In 1968, Moore noted: "I prefer to work out my ideas in the form of small maquettes which I can hold in my hand and look at from every point of view" (Wilkinson, 2002, p. 239).

Through the texture of the metal and their importance in Moore's method, maquettes including the present work embody the artist's creative process. In Moore's own words, looking at his sculptures is ”like going on a journey, each time you return you see something different, something new. Sculpture doesn’t have just a front view and a back view - there are countless in-between views which are just as important and just as impressive” (Moore & Hedgecoe, 1986, p. 79).

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