George Frederic Watts, O.M., R.A. (1817-1904)

Similar dramatic motifs of twisting bodies and spiralling drapery appear in many of Watts's allegorical and mythological paintings, such as Orpheus and Eurydice and Paolo and Francesca. The artist is not known to have painted a final version of the present subject. The depiction of the sea monster and the rocky landscape is remarkably similar to Frederic, Lord Leighton's painting of the same subject.