This painting is the only female nude that Sargent did in oil. As the name implies, the painting was done in Egypt on his trip to Cairo there to do research for the Boston Public Library murals.Sargent found a patrician essence in this child that made this painting far more arresting then a vapid society portrait. The uncovered majesty of this girl is far more aristocratic than that any London matron garbed in the finest satins and velvets.