Born into a Goan Catholic family of Portuguese origin, Antonio Xavier Trindade moved to Bombay for education and to earn a living. His first job after graduating from the Sir J. J. School of Art was at Raja Deen Dayal's studio, where he tinted photographs. The colonial policy of offering incentives to persons of mixed race worked in his favour and he later secured a teaching job at the School of Art. He augmented his income by painting portraits of both Indians and westerners. He mastered the use of oil colours in the European Academic realist mode, altering it sensitively when depicting Indian situations.

Genre painting was considered his forte and the famed work 'Flora'- an intimate domestic scene - won him a gold medal in 1920 from the Bombay Art Society, where his work was often displayed. His strongest body of work was made during the 1920s and 1930s, consisting of numerous portraits, scenes from everyday life in India, classical western subjects and paintings based on Christian themes. His work earned him the nickname 'Rembrandt of the East' amongst his contemporaries.

The first comprehensive exhibition of Trindade's twentieth century works was organized in 1996 at the Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia along with the publishing of “Antonio Xavier Trindade: An Indian Painter from Portuguese Goa” a well researched catalogue with contributions by renowned historians Dr. Bradley Tindall, Dr. William U. Eiland and Dr. Marcella Nesom Sirhandi. In another first, an exhibition of his works was held in January 2008 at the Centro Municipal De Cultura de Ponta Delgada in Azores, Portugal, organized by the Foundation East.

'Female nude under shadow of leaf', painted in 1933 is a sentimental composition reminiscent of a classical western nude, distinctive however in the dark hair and eyes. The pensive expression of the figure standing alongside fallen fruit brings to mind the Temptation of Eve from the biblical story.