Gaul was a member of the “Philadelphia Ten,” an important group of women artists formed in the early years of the twentieth century. She attended Philadelphia’s School of Design for Women, and among her teachers were Henry B. Snell and Elliott Daingerfield. The artist traveled abroad extensively throughout her career painting scenes outdoors, visiting Brittany, Athens, Messina, Algiers, Japan, China, and Thailand. This small garden scene was likely an oil sketch created out-of-doors on one of Gaul’s sojourns.