This work was inspired by a photograph of Irving Portnick, a nephew of the artist's wife, taken when he was seven years old. The full piece shows the subject in a sailor suit, sporting a cane and resting one arm on a classical type podium in a pose typical of the photographic studios of the 1920's. P.F.C. Irving Portnick was killed in action in the Battle of the Bulge during the closing days of World War II.