The original character found in the tile design for The Prince enters the Briar Wood, the first episode of the Sleeping Beauty series of 1864, in which the knight appears to have been struggling against the mass of briars, was subsequently a problem for the artist. In the first two paintings of the subject (1871-1873 and 1871-1884), the appearance of having been in combat with the briar, is maintained. In a photograph* of the unfinished final version of The Prince enters the Briar wood (finished 1885 with added touches late 1880s) shows the sense of struggle still existed, but by c. 1884 Burne-Jones had decided that a more relaxed pose was in keeping with his new idea suppressing the macabre aspect of the story in favour of a more tempered figuration. The present drawing one amongst many studies showing Burne-Jones's re-appraisal of the pose of the Prince. * Illustrated in "The Earthly Paradise", Exhibition Catalogue, Stuttgart, 2009 p. 150 fig. 51