Burne-Jones was at this time (1864), closely involved with the Rossetti circle which included Whistler, Simeon Solomon, William De Morgan and Albert Moore. Albert Moore, influenced by the Elgin Marbles, was creating compositions which involved the distribution of the figure as an abstract element and to create atmosphere he was working on The Shulamite in 1864 which appears to have been an influence upon this drawing. These innovations had a profound effect upon Burne-Jones and he began designing his paintings similarly, this neo-classicism gradually superseded, his intense involvement with medievalism.