An early design for Ezekiel for the commission from the Dalziel Brothers for their Bible Gallery in 1862 but not executed and published until 1881. The composition design for Theophilus and the Angel is considerably different from the finished painting. Here the event is taking place in a classical interior and Theophilus is exiting the building walking towards the bier. The idea of having a central tree was completely abandoned. The economy seen in this early design was lost in a rather confused composition with numerous figures in pursuit of recounting the narrative in the final work.
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 design differs considerably from that finally adopted for the 1863 watercolour. On the left, Theophilus stands on the first three steps, instead of on the topmost step. The temple of Venus is in the background at centre, whereas in the finished watercolour it is on the right. The body of St. Dorothea and her mourners are placed more to the left than in the watercolour, and the background figures in the latter appear to be omitted.The verso is a study showing an entirely different subject. The subject is taken from the Old Testament story of the prophet Ezekiel and the boiling pot (Ezekiel, chapters 16-24), and is probably a study for the illustration of the story for the Dalziel's Bible published in 1880. Burne-Jones began making designs for the project in 1863, and several studies and sketches of this are in the collection of the Tate Britain, which this study closely resembles. Also in Birmingham's collection are two wood engravings made of Burne-Jones's design for the Dalziels' Bible as well as the original woodblock.