The Dryad is a mythological tree nymph (from the Greek drus­ - an oak tree). The figures are frequently portrayed, crowned with oak leaves and sometimes they sometimes are depicted carrying axes, with which to punish outrages against the tree which they guard.  Hamadryads were still more closely united with trees which they formed a part of and this tree nymph certainly seems to be an integral part of her tree - her left foot disappearing into the stout trunk. Legend says the dryads are semi-goddesses, whose life and power ends with the death of the tree over which they preside.

At the feet of the tree are purple iris (named after a minor goddess in the Greek pantheon).  Iris was the messenger of Zeus and Hera, the King and Queen of the Greek Gods.  When Hercules lit the funeral pyre of his friend Patroclus, it burnt too slowly, so Iris sped off to ask Borea, the god of the north wind, to come and fan the flames (see the painting Boreas and Oreithyia). The model was Jane Hales, who was taken on as nursery maid for Evelyn’s young sister, Wilhemina (later Mrs Stirling).  When no longer needed as a nursery maid, Evelyn took her on as maid and model until Jane died in 1926, aged 74.