Exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1865 accompanied in the catalogue by a sonnet by the artist's friend, Charles Algernon Swinburne. The figure was painted in the garden of the poet and novelist, George Meredith. She represents Proserpina returning from the land of the dead. Sandys joined Rossetti's circle in 1857 and lived with him in Cheyne Walk for most of 1866.
