Brown rarely worked in watercolour unlike his friend Rossetti. This small, detailed painting shows the upper half of the picture 'Chaucer at the Court of Edward III' (1851, oil on canvas, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney) and it seems likely that it was executed after the completion of the painting rather than as a study for it. Brown discusses one other watercolour version in his diary which he sold to the artist Mark Anthony in 1854. However, Mary Bennett has discovered that this sketch measured 20 x 13 ½ inches and was later retouched by Brown, which implies that it is not the Birmingham version. The style of the watercolour may even suggest that it is a contemporary copy after Brown. He had a number of studio assistants, who may have been set to copy the completed painting, including his children Oliver, Lucy and Catherine, and Thomas Seddon and Albert Goodwin, who both helped Brown produce a second smaller version of 'Chaucer at the Court of Edward III' (1851-1868, oil on canvas, Tate London).LM

• Bequeathed by James Richardson Holliday, 1927.
• © Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery