Ross completed another painting of a young girl on a rocking horse in 1971, which is published in Paul Duval's book "High Realism in Canada" (1974). Duval describes how in the late 1960s and early 1970s "[Ross'] compositions have become more open, and his drawing highly selective and simplified... he had completely absorbed his earlier Renaissance studies, and entered into a totally contemporary creative area. Modern French painter John Balthus had joined Cosimo Tura as a major influence. Balthus inspired a series of paintings based on Ross' daughters" which I would relate to this painting from the same period. Duval goes on to write that "these illustrate the artist's belief that he can heighten the psychological intensity of his concepts by concentrating upon the single figure."