The Chintz Sofa depicts the London studio McNicoll shared with her partner, British artist Dorothea Sharp (1874–1955), who poses in the painting. The art historian Natalie Luckyj suggests that the figure in The Chintz Sofa could be seen as a suffragette working on a piece of memorabilia for the women’s rights movement. Although there is no firm evidence of McNicoll’s or Sharp’s political beliefs, it is appealing, in light of their active participation in women’s organizations, to view The Chintz Sofa as engaging with a wider world of feminist interventions.