Recognized as one of the foremost American artists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, William Merritt Chase is celebrated for an eclectic body of work that cuts across subject matter, technique, and media. He was also a revered and influential teacher. Chase prized his artistic versatility and actively cultivated a flamboyant public persona that complemented the astonishing flexibility with which he shifted from one style to another.

Chase created many portraits and figure studies of a young Alice Gerson (1866–1927). Her father ran a lithography firm in New York, and Alice became a favorite model for Chase, along with her two sisters. Alice and Chase later married. In this work she is seventeen. 

The bravura brushwork and splash of color in Alice's red scarf make this painting quintessential Chase. He does not concern himself with the niggling details and instead captures the essence of her countenance with surety and style. Chase painted the familiar with elegance and grace and in turn elevated the commonplace to art. He demonstrates this beautifully in his portraits of Alice and then later in the paintings of their children.