This work in watercolour and ink was made at the same time as Rego created a series of etchings and aquatints, which were published as a portfolio and also used to illustrate the Folio Society edition of Peter Pan in 1992. This fight scene, which was not reproduced in the associated portfolio, is among her most extravagant compositions.

Throughout her career, Rego has explored the world of children’s stories, often attracted to their ambiguity and double meanings, especially in terms of human relations and the relationship between the individual and the collective. Her research into this rich literary universe began in 1974, when she produced a series of illustrations dedicated to traditional Portuguese folktales. Since that time, folk and fairy tales became a fertile source of inspiration for her work work and its ongoing exploration of themes of enchantment, love and seduction, power and subjugation. These tales, in turn, gain fresh meaning through articulation and in combination with stories from the artist’s own personal universe.