One of a number of studies in Birmingham's collection for the watercolour entitled 'Theophilus and the Angel'. Two versions of the painting were made, one was destroyed in the second world war (1863), the other (c.1866) was sold at Sotheby's in 2008.From an earlier outline sketch also in Birmingham's collection, Burne-Jones has developed the pose of Theophilus, caught as he turns his head to acknowledge the angel sent by St Dorothea.