This work is amongst Freud's most powerful early drawings, an existential cry, carrying with it their intensity of Edvard Munch's The Scream and fascinatingly anticipating Francis Bacon's later Screaming Popes. It belongs to a series of drawings executed in coloured inks in which the young Freud first exerts his distinct artistic personality. William Feaver vividly described their inspired creation: "Bottles of ink, red green, blue, black, cluttered the parlour table as Freud filled the pages with whatever occurred to him, one notion sparking another. (Quoting Freud) "The drawings are very high-spirited, a private language" (W. Feaver, The Lives of Lucian Freud, Youth London, 2019, p. 94.)

Freud’s works are on display at the Tate, London; Victoria & Albert Museum, London; The National Portrait Gallery, London; MoMA, New York; Ben Uri Gallery & Museum, London.