The design is probably for the painting, presented to All Souls College, Oxford, by Thomas Palmer (circa 1685-1735) (see E. Croft-Murray, Decorative Painting in England, 1962, I, p. 272, under no. 37). Thornhill may possibly have designed the painting for Palmer's country seat Fairfield, at Stoke Courcy, Somerset. The present drawing differs in many respects from the executed paintings at All Souls (see J. Dalton, Some Religious Paintings by Sir James Thornhill, Apollo, June 1958, pp. 224-8, fig. V). The differences between the present drawing and the finished painting suggest that this is an early design, certainly the inscriptions on the preparatory designs suggest that Thornhill researched the Old Testament narrative before finalising his composition