As a gift to the Louvre, Burne-Jones ensured that the drawings he presented, demonstrated the best of his capability as a draughtsman. He wished to have his technique compared to the Masters of the Renaissance. For him the Louvre was a place of pilgrimage. Consequently it was important to him that the gift would be of his best. This drawing is an idealized portrait of Maria Zambaco appearing appropriately as Helen of Troy. Burne-Jones depicting her as the woman whose beauty rivaled that of the Gods, gives an insight into his passionate feeling for Maria and her Greek origins. It underlines his desire for the two of them to escape to Greece and emphasizes how his place of enchantment had moved from the world of Chartres and medieval France to that of Ancient Greece.