One of the most controversial and influential painters of the early twentieth century, Egon Schiele (1890–1918) gained acclaim and notoriety for his explicit nude portraits, which shocked audiences in pre-war Vienna. Abandoning the ornamentation and decorative elegance of the Secessionists, his work expressed tension, angst and inner vulnerability through a radical, expressionistic language of twisted body shapes and graphic sexuality. Schiele was a highly skilled draughtsman, though in his short life his erotic pictures of young women and sex workers were criticised as immoral. He was famously arrested for seducing a girl of thirteen and was briefly imprisoned for distributing obscene drawings. This loose, fluid sketch was made shortly before Schiele’s premature death from influenza, just as he was gaining broader recognition. By this time, his expressive lines had become softer and his depictions more sensitive and less confrontational than earlier works, which are characterised by angular and agitated forms.