From a bound volume containing 86 studies for illustrations to 'The Story of Cupid and Psyche' made to accompany the poem in William Morris''The Earthly Paradise'.The right portion of this study depicts 'Pan and Psyche', the first sketch Burne-Jones does of this subject, which later becomes two major full-scale paintings. In both oils (1869, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University; 1872, Private Collection), Psyche is shown nude, but the compositions are identical to this preliminary drawing. Generally, scholars, such as Bill Waters and John Christian feel that Burne-Jones based his 'Pan and Psyche' on Piero di Cosimo's 'Death of Procris', acquired by the National Gallery in 1862.