Fort Worth artist Emily Guthrie Smith studied at Texas Woman's University, the University of Oklahoma, and the Art Students League. She began exhibiting in the Texas annual at Fort Worth in 1929, the Texas General in 1942, and with the Texas Fine Arts Association in 1943. After Frank Reaugh, Smith was one of the finest pastelists in Texas and was elected to the Pastel Society of America Hall of Fame 1984.

In its composition Enchanted Grotto is strongly reminiscent of Georgia O'Keeffe's flower paintings from the 1930s, despite the differences in subjects. Moreover, the inescapable references to female sexual anatomy in O'Keeffe's flowers-despite her protestations to the contrary-are as unavoidable in this Smith painting. Furthermore, the title may be a double entendre.