An accumulation of details transforms this apparently playful late gouache into a revealingly autobiographical work: a meditation on sexual desire and physical decline. Adrian Lewis provides a series of evocative clues:

`Hilton's spotting of the image was possibly meant to denote his own skin condition. This spotting arises from the decorative variety of marks, which Hilton developed, but also suggests a projection of his own situation of physical discomfort, deriving from his skin condition.'

`Pairs of birds can connote sexual partners . involving the artist's identification with the image . a peacock . suggests an analogy of display of visual delight (connected with sexual excitation) still apposite to the art of painting.'

`Red patches in Hilton's late work often seem to mark instances of passionate identification.'