Leighton's painting Wide Wondering Eyes was first exhibited at Manchester in 1895 (L. and R. Ormond, Lord Leighton, 1975, p. 173, no. 394). There is a head study in the Royal Collection at Windsor (no. 13509), made from the same little girl as appears in the present drawing but showing her more in profile. Our drawing must be contemporary, and this is confirmed by the autograph on the back; but the inscription by a later owner - 'sketch of my cousin for my mother Ethel Cecilia Reeves' - suggests that it was done as an independent portrait sketch for the sitter's aunt rather than as an alternative study for Wide Wondering Eyes. Whatever the case, the model clearly appealed to Leighton. She posed yet again for the Portrait of a Girl (Ormond, no. 557) which was sold in these Rooms 22 March 1985, lot 95