In the spring of 1911 Egon Schiele moved from Vienna to Krumau, the birthplace of his mother. Accompanying him was the seventeen-year-old Walburga Neuzil, called Wally, whom he had met shortly before. The daughter of a schoolteacher from Tattendorf in Lower Austria had come to Vienna, where she quickly moved in "bohemian" circles. She was available to Gustav Klimt as a model and thus also got to know his young admirer Schiele. Contrary to the widespread opinion that the two had lived in a "wild marriage" and thus incurred the displeasure of the respectable citizens of Krumau, Schiele rented a flat for Wally and maintained a certain distance in his dealings with her. Even later she did not live with the artist, but nevertheless remained close friends with him until his marriage to Edith Harms in 1915.

It is only from 1912 that the person of Wally is clearly identifiable in Schiele's work and was his preferred model for the following three years. One of the first documents in this regard is the delicate pencil drawing showing Wally as a semi-nude. Soft, fluid lines have replaced the expressive language of earlier years. At times, the lines are interrupted, the organic coherence of the figure is dissolved and the viewer's gaze is thus drawn to the centre of the body with the pubic area visible under the gaping blouse. The verso study of a female back nude, also dated 1912, shows analogous stylistic features. 

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