Rogers contemplated the plays of Shakespeare as a potential subject from the earliest years of his professional career. In 1861 he wrote of his plans for a series and assayed a handful of such themes into 1862, including one titled The Merchant of Venice, which he showed at the National Academy of Design (to his dismay, it went unnoticed). No examples of these early groups survive. Nearly twenty years passed before the Bard resurfaced in Rogers' work. The sculptor created an acclaimed series of groups that included "Is It So Nominated in the Bond?" (1936.659, 1926.37) from The Merchant of Venice; The Wrestlers (1936.645, 1926.37) from As You Like It; "Ha! I Like Not That" (1936.658, 1929.108) from Othello; and "You Are a Spirit, I Know: When Did You Die?" (1936.646, 1932.99, 1948.413) from King Lear. He concluded with this work from Romeo and Juliet. The play intertwines elements of comedy and tragedy, and Rogers turned to a moment of flirtation and courtship, as he had done successfully in numerous other sculptures. However, viewers knew the romance's tragic end, giving this early scene particular tension and poignancy. He chose the moment from act 1, scene 5, when the young lovers first meet at a masked ball at the Capulet house. Romeo has come in the disguise of a palmer, that is, a religious pilgrim. He wears a rough cloak over his courtly clothing, as well as prayer beads and a bag bearing a scallop shell, a medieval symbol of pilgrimage. He has just kissed Juliet's hand and lifts his mask to make himself known to her. Lovely Juliet gazes at him intently as she is bodily pulled away by her nurse, who has an arm around her waist and holds her hand. A master of texture and detail, Rogers created a stark contrast between Juliet's smooth, fresh hand and the elderly nurse's wrinkled and veined one. The nurse is