This sketch is a portrait of Thomas Gotch is by his lifelong friend and confidante, Jane Ross, whom he met at Heatherley’s Art School. They shared a passionate interest in literature, plays and books.

Tom called Jane his ‘sister confessor’ and she called him her ‘penitent’. They were extremely close, going on to study at the Slade together, and then Paris. There are definitely indications of a romance between them, which, if true, came to naught as Thomas married Caroline Burland Yates in 1881.