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.The subject is taken from the legend of St Dorothea, when the Protonotary Theophilus is approached by an angel sent by Dorothea.