Godfrey Sykes (1824-1866) was born in Yorkshire. He was apprenticed to a Sheffield engraver but when the Sheffield School of Design opened in 1843, he was one of the first pupils to enrol. He remained a pupil until 1856 when he became assistant master to the headmaster, Young Mitchell (1811–1865). It was while in Sheffield that he met, and studied the work of, the Neo-classical sculptor and designer Alfred Stevens (1818–1875).

In 1859 Sykes left for London where he worked on designs for the interiors of the South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum). He had been recruited by Henry Cole for his thorough training and knowledge of Italian decorative art. Shortly after Sykes’s early death from a lung infection, the South Kensington Museum held a memorial exhibition of his oil paintings, which included landscapes and genre scenes, and his architectural drawings.

This particular painting is based on 'The Venus of Urbino' by the Venetian artist Titian (ca.1485-1576). Titian's painting, now in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, was commissioned by Guidubaldo II della Rovere, Duke of Urbino (1514-1574).