Thought to have been painted in the Autumn of 1911 whilst travelling with and tutoring Canadian painter Emily Carr in Brittany, northern France.

While outside Paris, Carr worked en plein air, in the fields or woods and sometimes in the homes of cottagers, from morning until dark, creating images of rural life in Brittany, such as French Knitter (La Bretonne), 1911. Although Gibb advised her to rest, he admired her tenacity. When she destroyed works that she felt were not adequate, he told her, “That’s why I like teaching you! You’ll risk ruining your best in order to find something better.” And when she complained about the artistic isolation awaiting her back in Canada, he replied, “So much the better! Your silent Indian will teach you more than all the art jargon.