The present drawing is probably a preparatory study for the heliogravure of around 1908 (see Rosenbach no. 47). It is very likely that Zille would have first created a quick pencil or charcoal sketch from real life, which he would have then turned into a clean-line ink drawing with the help of transparent glassine paper, to make it suitable for the print medium. The present handcoloured and annotated sheet appears to be a transfer drawing, which the artist would have taken from the first ink drawing, perhaps to explore the effects of the text and of colour. As a preparatory work, it would never have left the artist’s study and thus became part of his estate.

The text below the image, in Berlin dialect, loosely translates as 'The Model. "I the Venus that you cough up a starvation wage for sit here and demand an opulence surcharge, just so you know!"'