It shows a scene in the artist's own studio as he tries to paint a model who has fallen asleep in her chair. It features a self-portrait of himself as he doggedly continues to paint the young woman, an orange seller, smiling and awake. Frith had a great deal of trouble persuading the woman who he encountered in the street to pose for him, partly due to the fact that she was a Catholic. Having eventually coaxed her to sit, she then fell asleep while he was working.[2] The incident led Frith to produce this work inspired by the incident.[3] When Frith was elected to be a full member of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1853 he presented this as his diploma work. It remains in the collection of the Royal Academy today.[4]
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