Fitzwilliam work list 1876... Began the large picture of Pan in the woods... As the title suggests and this unfinished work corroborates, "Pan in the Woods" would be the first exploration of the subject. Previous understanding of the sequence documented in the work list has been interpreted as the large version being the one mentioned in 1876. However the present work is more likely to be the one mentioned and the two completed versions are those listed in 1886 and 7. The work of T M Rooke is evident throughout the painting especially in the figure of the maiden. The drawing from which he copied the figure on to the canvas is held in the National Gallery of Victoria, this is specifically for the unfinished version and the head of the maiden was much modified for the later oils.
Fitzwilliam work list: 1872 This year I have four subjects which above all others I desire to paint, and count my chief designs, for some years to come. The Chariot of Love - to be painted life size. The Vision of Britomart in 3 pictures also life size. The Sirens - small life size. and a picture of the beginning of the world - with Pan and Echo and sylvan gods, and a forest full of centaurs and a wild background of woods, mountains and rivers - upon these four subjects all my leisure time will be spent." The latter is obviously based on a painting by Piero Di Cosimo in the Christ Church collection Oxford but evolved into The Garden of Pan much later.