Fildes was one of the admirable artists associated with The Graphic, in bringing unvarnished accounts of deprivation to the reading public, and , incidentally, much admired by Van Gogh. This oil on canvas equivalent was immensely successful at the Royal Academy of 1891. Fildes built a replica of a cottage interior in his studio to depict the scene accurately, avoiding that usual painterly evocation of the Cottage as charming nook.