A Tale from the Decameron (Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight; Hobson, 1980, fig.148; 1989, fig.88) is one of Waterhouse's most important late paintings; it was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1916, the last time he showed there before his death in February the following year. (Four works were shown posthumously in 1917). This sketch corresponds closely to the finished picture, the main differences being the pose of the girl on the right of the group of listeners (she rests her head on her right hand in the picture) and the introduction of a man and a woman standing in the background to the left. A large oil study which was recently on the London art market (Hobson, 1980, fig.152) shows more significant variations, which leads one to suppose that our sketch was made betweeen this and the finished picture. Miranda - The Tempest (Hobson,1989, fig.86) was also exhibited at the R.A. in 1916