Previously misidentified as being a study for The Car of Love ( Love's Wayfaring) a similar drawing of the same subject came up for sale at Bonhams 13 Jun 1996 and the compositional study for Tristram and Yseult is held in the collections of Torre Abbey. Zambaco once again is portrayed in a key position as the main protagonist in a narrative of an illicit love.
This head study was used in the two versions of the 'Car of Love' or 'Love's Wayfaring', both of which are unfinished. A charcoal version (c. 1871) in the Falmouth Art Gallery, a compositional study in pencil (c.1898) and the large oil on canvas both in the V & A (begun 1872). In addition to this study, there are three similarly identified female head studies for the 'Car of Love': a head study of Margaret Benson Drummond (1880), another head study of Maria Zambaco with slight variation (1875, see Bonhams Knightsbridge, 'Fine 19th Century European Paintings', 13 June 1996; in 2007 for sale at the Maas Gallery), and a later female head study dated 1895 (Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, Bedford). There are also two figure studies at the Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester (D.1960.70 & 71).
Rossetti letter to Madox Brown 23 January 1869: Poor Ned's affairs have come to a smash altogether, and he and Topsy, after the most dreadful to-do, started for Rome suddenly, leaving the Greek damsel beating up the quarters of all his friends for him and howling like Cassandra. Georgie stayed behind. I hear to-day however that Top and Ned got no further than Dover, Ned being so dreadfully ill that they will probably have to return to London.
In January 1869 his wife Georgina found a letter from Maria in his clothing and Burne-Jones reluctantly ended the affair.