Highly regarded as a portrait painter and as a founder member of the National Portrait Society in 1911, Glyn Philpot had a desire to produce more varied work in the face of establish categories. He was elected Royal Academician in 1923, but ten years later had his painting The Great God Pan, 1933 rejected because of its unambiguous sexual content. This painting, with its soft, light palette, is typical of his later work. His other, much larger painting in the collection, Ascending Angel, 1929 shows his devout Christianity, and links with Eric Gill, both of whom converted to Roman Catholicism.
