The watercolour was painted in 1891 and exhibited the same year at the controversial Société des XX in Brussels, where it hung in the compnay of apingins by Van Gogh and sculpture and ceramics by Gauguin. It recalls Crane's books with floral themes, Flora's Feast (1889) and A Floral Fantasy in an Old English Garden (1899), and although it was not published in either, details such as the clipped hedges, cypress trees and classical architechure, all reflecting his love of Italy, which he visited often from 1871, have parallels in his books and paintings. The design is reminiscent of a backcloth or stage set, and Crane was indeed involved from time to time in teh staging of masques and pageants. The most important was Beauty's Awakening, A Masque of Winter and Spring, performed by the Art Workers' Guild in the Guildhall, London, in June 1899