The profile drawing relates to a finished drawing now in the Sir John Soane’s Museum, London which is dated to 1817. John Flaxman was close to his wife’s sister, Maria, who inherited the contents of his studio in 1826. Maria was responsible for donating a large proportion of the casts she inherited to University College London, where they remain in the Flaxman Gallery. Beautifully drawn in profile, this portrait captures Flaxman’s close relationship with his wife’s younger sister.