This drawing appears to be a study for the upper figure in Moonbeams dipping into the sea (National Trust, Knightshayes Court, Devon and De Morgan Foundation, London). The personification of dusk and the moon was a motif Evelyn De Morgan visited frequently in her later work, and in Moonbeams she depicts three beautiful young women reaching from the moon to the surface of the sea, holding hands and entwined in diaphonous fabric. This study is for the upper figure, who reaches up to rest her arm on the moon and down to hold the hand of the next maiden. A study for the lower figure was shown at Hartnoll & Eyre, London, Evelyn De Morgan, 1970, no. 1.
We are grateful to Scott Buckle for his help in preparing this catalogue entry.