Way back in 1972, thousands of miles away from home, in New Zealand, I had Tom Lovell's painting in mind when I felt inspired enough to spend most of a week drawing this picture of the battle of Hastings. I used king Richard the Lionheart's face, as shown on the cover illustration of Graham Shelby's The Kings of Vain Intent, for the expression on the main Norman knight's face. And my backward-facing Norman knight, in the middle ground, was redrawn looking at the first English edition of Warriors and Weapons of Early Times (Niels M. Saxtorph, Blandford Press, London), illustrated by Stig Bramsen: Bramsen's illustrations helped me with the horse musculature.