The drawing shows Hercules delivering Prometheus by shooting the eagle which is tormenting him. It is clearly connected with Richmond's painting of The Release of Prometheus by Hercules, exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1882 (repr. Magazine of Art, 25, 1901, p.200, and Christmas Art Annual, 1902, p.2), although, according to the inscription, it was made about the time that Richmond painted another Prometheus subject, Prometheus Bound (Birmingham), exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1874. No doubt the painting of the first picture suggested a sequel (significantly, originally to be called Prometheus Unbound), and this was an early idea. The composition finally adopted for The Release of Prometheus by Hercules was very different.

Another sketch for The Release of Hercules, closer to the final solution, is reproduced in A.M.W. Stirling, The Richmond Papers, 1926, p. 431