This is one of seven images commissioned by the Dalziel Brothers in 1863 for their Illustrated Bible, and the only ones executed in colour paints (see below, 2006.1040.68). It has been suggested that the designs were influenced by Burne-Jones's reading of The Life of William Blake , by Alexander Gilchrist that appeared the same year, although other scholars have indicated that the designs derived from other sources as various as Samuel Palmer or the Renaissance master Luca Della Robbia. Previously, in 1861, Burne-Jones had executed a set of the Days of Creation for James Powell & Sons, for the east rose window at Waltham Abbey. He returned to the designs again, altering the composition entirely in about 1870. These later designs were much more elaborate, but basically still utilised the same media as in 1863, and were exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1877, now in the Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge.