The technique that Burne-Jones uses in this drawing, i.e. the coarse texture of the red chalk and the linear structure of the face suggests it was is one that would enable a transference onto canvas. Another drawing made from this model at the same sitting (Portrait Head study of a Woman in profile Sotheby's Belgravia 1973 10 July 1973 lot 32 £750 to Piccadilly Gallery) became the basis for one of the Sea Nymphs in the second version of The Arming of Perseus, Perseus and the Nereids, Perseus Series. The present drawing is therefore linked with the later version in which a new young model was chosen consistent with the story. This particular drawing was not made to contribute to the painting but to familiarise the artist with the models features. Either one of the drawings could be identified as lot 201 in the 1898 Studio sale which gives some indication of the difficulties that arise through the inadequate cataloguing in the nineteenth century.