George Frederic Watts reportedly bribed the teenage Arthur Prinsep not to cut his frizzy red hair before he had a chance to draw him. Arthur’s cloud of ginger hair is drawn in soft tufts of blended chalks with crisp lines, emphasizing its volume and natural texture.

The main medium, sanguine, is difficult to erase and requires an artist to be confident in their mark-making. George regularly used sanguine, named for its blood-red colour, in his drawings. Here, George also used grey and black chalks to add depth to the shading.

This drawing was a study for George’s fresco Earth, painted for Arthur’s aunt, Virginia, Countess Somers. The pose was inspired by the figure of Bacchus in Titian’s painting Bacchus and Ariadne (1520-23), which had been acquired for the nation in 1826. Arthur also posed for Apollo in George's fresco of Apollo and Diana.