Cyril Mann was an English painter and sculptor best known for his exploration of light and shadow in figurative art. He sought to push beyond traditional realism by showing how sunlight transforms surfaces, often making light itself the main subject of the painting rather than the objects depicted.

Born in London and raised largely in Nottingham, Mann won a scholarship to the Nottingham School of Art at an unusually young age. In his late teens he travelled to Canada intending to become a missionary, but after abandoning religion he worked in British Columbia in jobs such as mining, logging, and printing. Inspired by the landscape there, he returned to painting.

Back in London in the 1930s, Mann studied at the Royal Academy Schools and later continued in Paris with support from patrons including Erica Marx. During the Second World War he served as a gunner in the Royal Artillery.

In the early 1950s he entered what he called his “solid shadow” period, painting still lifes in artificial light with strong lines and intense colours, focusing on the sculptural quality of shadows. It was during this period that this painting was completed.