This is a tracing of the Gothic arch found in one of the early compositional studies for the painting 'Chaucer at the Court of Edward III' in the Birmingham collection (1906P680). There is another tracing for the same compositon in the collection (1906P1071). This suggests that Brown was using tracings to transfer various elements of the composition onto different preparatory studies and sketches. However, there are no pencil marks or pricks on the tracing paper which might indicate that he may have used the tracings as reference copies whilst working on several studies. The heads which Brown has loosely added within the arch do not match the figures found in 1906P680. This futher indicates that he made multiple compositonal studies.
LM