The early graphic manner of David Hockney, especially in his pen-and-ink portrait drawings, was partly inspired by Blake’s. Girl’s Head and Shoulders Back View was apparently studied from life but distils its subject into a lucid composition of great simplicity. The naked figure is lying on furniture covered with patterned fabric, her right arm raised up and crooked back so her fingers appear on the other side of her head. Her hair is tied up and her exposed back, modelled very lightly with short strokes of the pencil, fills most of the composition. Her partially exposed breast lends a gentle eroticism to the image, and this quality has been a persistent theme throughout Blake’s career. The small sheet of paper is filled to the edges, with the figure’s topknot cropped at the upper edge and her hips disappearing at the lower edge. The model has not been identified.