This is an oil sketch for Waterhouse's painting exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1893 and now in the Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt (Hobson, op.cit., pl.58). The subject is taken from the famous poem by Keats, who inspired a number of Waterhouse's pictures.

The Darmstadt painting is one of Waterhouse's most poetic creations, achieving a degree of emotional intensity which is unique is his oeuvre. It is reminiscent of an early watercolour by Rossetti, who had treated this subject in the 1850s, as Waterhouse was doubtless aware. The present study captures much of the same feeling and is unusual for Waterhouse in being so complete. It has almost the character of a small independent version.