In 1851 Rossetti began a watercolour of 'The Return of Tibullus to Delia', inspired by a famous elegy by the Roman poet Tibullus in which the writer asks his mistress to await his return. Delia waits, spinning to while away the hours, listening to music played by an old woman and distractedly putting her long hair in her mouth. There are several studies in existence for the painting. The motif of sucking at hair was also used, probably coincidentally, by Frederick Sandys in his design illustrating Christina Rossetti's poem If (1906P844 in Birmingham's collection).