The stamp on the drawing is that of the well-known collector Henry Scipio Reitlinger (1882-1950), whose collection was dispersed at a series of sales at Sothebys, London, in 1953 and 1954.
The model was one that Burne-Jones used for the several of the maidens in The Sleep of Arthur in Avalon and this drawing may well have been a study for one of the Watchers to the left of the painting. As she appears in the painting, the finishing of the features was still required and there is a slight difference in the angle of the face from the present drawing, she is also the only figure with eyes lowered.