The drawing is a preliminary study for a stained-glass window made for the Dundee Council Chambers. The window (which is now dismantled) was inscribed with the name of the person represented, 'James Haliburton', provost of Dundee, 'born mdxi died mdlxxxviii', and also stating that he was 'member of parliament, statesman, soldier, reformer, [and that] he was a conspicuous leader in the great events of his age'. This was one of four lights, each showing historical personages connected with the city of Dundee. The entire scheme was commissioned from Morris and Co. in the late 1880's and designed by Burne-Jones. The window showing Haliburton was presented to the city of Dundee by William Hunter, Lord Provost of Dundee 1887-1890, and was installed in 1889. Burne-Jones’s cartoons for the scheme were presented to Birmingham City Art Gallery in 1901. An entry in Burne-Jones account book from 1888 refers to '3 figures for Dundee £20 each ... [making] £60. Haliburton, Dundee ... £20'. The present full length male nude study corresponds closely to the figure in the stained glass, in which James Haliburton is shown in three-quarters profile turning to the viewer's right, and with a sword in his right hand and which rests on his right shoulder. See A. Charles Sewter, The Stained Glass of William Morris and his Circle, two volumes, New Haven, 1974, I, figure 603 (showing the stained-glass), and II, pp. 63-4. We are grateful to Christopher Newall for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.