Two early ideas for the composition of 'The Wine of Circe', in the style of the early 1860s, still showing the influence of Rossetti. Another sketch for 'Fair Rosamund & Queen Eleanor', is on the back of the drawing. Bequeathed by James Richardson Holliday, 1927
The influence of Rossetti that John Christian refers to in these initial studies, is the shallow depth of the picture plane and a cloistered environment such as is seen in his watercolours such as Sir Galahad at the ruined Chapel, 1859 and The Blue Closet, 1856-7. These two sketches also reveal a relationship between Circe and Dorigen of Bretaigne, in the emergence of a rectangular area which contains a picture within a picture that amplifies the narrative of the main subject. In these paintings the space is horizontal. It was developed in Laus Veneris 1873-75 and later became vertical as in Venus Epithalamia 1871 and Danae and the Brazen Tower 1887-88.