Frances Mary Hodgkins (1869-1947) was a New Zealand painter chiefly of landscape, and for a short period was a designer of textiles. Born in Dunedin, she was educated at Dunedin School of Art, then became an art teacher, earning money to study in England.

In the 1930s, when she was in her sixties, she exhibited with much younger, avante-garde artists and achieved critical success late in life. Her style is individual, for she always disliked styles and ''movements''. This painting is the final work in a series made after a summer sketching holiday in Bridgnorth, Shropshire.

''Sabrina'' was the Roman name for the River Severn, and we are in a pleasure garden on the river's bank. There is a wooden statue of two women in the foreground.