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.Burne-Jones appears to have begun with a lighty roughed-out sketch of the figure of Theophilus, and then progressed to a full length drapery study. The position of the book is seen to alter.