Whereas the figure in the background, drawing in pencil, is typical of Fuseli's later style, the foreground is uncharacteristic and seems to have been gone over in ink by another hand.

It has not been possible to identify the subject, but it could be something like Carlo and Ubaldo spying on Rinaldo from Torquator Tasso's Gerusaleme Liberata.

It has been suggested that the pencil work is by Fuseli but the drawing has been strengthened by another hand