A document of considerable art-historical interest, the sketch was made c.1843-4 when Hunt was a student at the Royal Academy Schools. At this time the R.A. shared the Trafalgar Square premises of the National Gallery, which had owned Titian's painting since 1826.

Another sketch, from a copy by Andrew Geddes in the Royal Academy of Titian's Sacred and Profane Love, also exists (Hunt exhibition, 1969, no.3).