Lilian Holt spent part of 1953 travelling around France with her husband, the artist David Bomberg, before they moved to Ronda in Spain. Both artists were drawn to the imposing Gothic churches of Northern France and, during this period, Holt's work is at times almost indistinguishable from that of her husband: both a testament to the force of his influence and to Holt's own skill.

In July 1953, in an essay for the forthcoming exhibition of work by his students, the so-called 'Borough Bottega' (which would become the Borough Group), David Bomberg wrote a manifest. In it, he discussed the artist's approach to form and the influence and importance of Cezanne in this respect. Writing of 'the meaning of drawing and how it is related to the interpretation of form' and 'the study of structure', Bomberg argued that 'the approach to mass' depended on the individual's liberty: drawings were more than reactions to 'the organic character of mass', and the artist should, Bomberg argued, also be encouraged by a belief that 'we have urgent need of the affirmation of [man's] spiritual significance and his individuality'. Bomberg's own spiritual expression found a rich new vein in the architectural forms of the French churches he and Lilian visited.