The present painting is in an unfinished state. It was the artist's custom on large scale paintings, to employ an assistant to lay in the basic design from highly finished drawings. It was then his intention to over-work every part of the design so that when it left the Studio with nothing of the assistants work being evident. In the present painting in its raw state, the various stages in the development can be detected, the intended effect can be seen in the watercolour version held in the Castle Howard collections. It is suggested here that the stages of production were as follows: 1. The composition was roughly laid in by an assistant. Philip Burne-Jones observed "When the cartoon was completed, it would be traced by an assistant and transferred to the canvas upon which the finished picture was to too be painted. The design was then drawn in, usually by an assistant, in thin monochrome (burnt sienna, raw or burnt umber or terre vert), and the real work of painting the picture would begin." (Notes on Some Unfinished Works of Sir Edward Burne-Jones, Bt. Magazine of Art 1900) In this case the "cartoon" would be the drawing held by Castle Howard Collections. The assistant was most likely to have been T M Rooke as he was still employed for this purpose, as recorded in his conversations with the artist where he mentions in February 1896, that he was laying a in a replica of Aurora on a new canvas (Burne-Jones Talking, by Mary Lago, pub 1981 p 90). 2. An assistant roughly painted in the flesh tones of the faces. For a comparable example see the unfinished painting of "Aurora" in a gold dress Sotheby's 10 December 2019 lot 18, in which pentimenti can be detected indicating an assistant's laying in also showing Burne-Jones's method of over-painting. 3. In a similar way to that used in Aurora, Burne-Jones then over-painted in bold strokes, the flying draperies on the preliminary work. The vigor of the brush stokes in the folds of the draperies at the top of the painting and at the throat of the central head have the assurance of the Master. 4. When compared with the preparatory drawings by Burne-Jones, it is obvious that further flesh tones have been added rather crudely, which were to have been the basis for the detail to be added by the Master. (see Study of the Head of a Girl in profile Bonhams 8 April 2020 lot 82). This late painting was never intended to face the public in its present state. It remained in the Studio until the artist's death and was sold in the 1898 Studio Sale along with a number of other unfinished paintings, which were a result of Burne-Jones having employed several assistants to prepare the huge body of work that existed at his death. As a combination of the work of assistants and the Master, this painting is invaluable in giving an insight into the working practices of the atelier which were in operation from c.1870.