Although this drawing is dated 1850 Mary Bennett has identified it as a study of Gothic arches for 'Wycliffe reading his Translation of the Bible to John of Gaunt in the Presence of Chaucer and Gower' (1848, oil on canvas, Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford). This identification is confirmed by looking at both the early oil sketch, also at Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, and the final version. Both include the central arches from this study. In the earlier oil sketch only the Gothic arches surround the central scene but in the final version Brown devised a much more elaborate scheme of architecture, similar to his design for abandoned triptych 'The Seeds and Fruits of English Poetry' (the central panel of this design became 'Chaucer at the Court of Edward III,' 1851, oil on canvas, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney). When Thomas Plint bought the painting 'Wycliffe reading his Translation of the Bible' in the late 1850s he insisted that a new frame was made which hid the architectural detail, the Gothic Medievalism of the 1840s having become unfashionable by that date.LM

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