The Maze (painting) autobiography "Someone With Me" and his accounts for the Bethlem Royal Hospital, which houses the painting today. The rat spirit at the center cavity of the skull now has a view to the outside, but the outside world is not depicted as an attractive place either. Wheatfield backdrop: The backdrop of the painting is a wheat field being devoured by grasshoppers under the blazing hot sun (this derives from an incident on the Kurelek farm when William was a boy). Kurelek writes, "this refers to my belief that my problems stemmed in a large part from my father taking out
Lais of Corinth (Holbein) as its companion piece, though Holbein does not appear to have originally planned the second painting. According to some commentators, the portrayal of the sitter as a hetaera or courtesan may contain a coded message by Holbein about his relationship with her. Art historian Peter Claussen, however, dismisses this interpretation as "pure nonsense". Both paintings employ the same colours and depict the same costume and drapery. Holbein adopts the style of Leonardo and the Lombard muralists, whose work he may have studied during a visit to Italy. He uses Leonardo's "sfumato" (smoky) technique to blend the skin tones, as well