These tracings relate to the composition of Frederic Leighton's two lunettes for the Victoria and Albert Museum, 'The Arts of Industry as Applied to War' and 'The Arts of Industry as Applied to Peace'.

In 1868 Leighton was invited by Henry Cole to design a composition for two lunettes in the museum's South Court and made his first preliminary drawings in the summer of 1869. Eventually, following extensive correspondance between the two regarding the specific area to be painted, Leighton presented the museum with his proposed design for a fresco entitled 'The Arts of Industry as Applied to War' in December 1870. Two outline copies of this design were made, one on a large canvas which Leighton painted up as a monochrome cartoon, and the other on a smaller canvas which the artist used as the basis for a colour study in oils. These finished studies were returned to the museum in January 1872. However, Henry Cole's retirement in 1873 caused delay and work did not begin on the actual painting of the fresco until 1878.

Leighton followed the same method to produce the second fresco, 'The Arts of Industry as Applied to Peace' which was painted between 1884-6.

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