The position of the head in the upper sketch corresponds to that of Andromeda in The Baleful Head but the facial model is different from that used in the final painting and the lower drawing is possibly related to the seated harpies in The Finding of Medusa or medusa herself in that episode. However the lighting is from a different direction.
John Christian has suggested that this work could be related to the Passing of Venus.
An unusual drawing as Burne-Jones preferred his models in more comfortable positions, only rarely has he portrayed heads inclined downwards as in The Baleful Head, Cupid's victim in The Passing of Venus and in Cleopatra in the Kelmscott Chaucer.