The story that Fuseli illustrated here concerns Theodore, a young nobleman of Ravenna rejected by the beautiful but proud Honoria, with whom he is infatuated. In despair, Theodore retires to his country estate where one day he encounters the ghost of his ancestor Guido Cavalcanti, a suicide condemned in the afterlife to perpetually chase, kill, and disembowel the woman who rejected his love. Honoria witnesses the scene, which transforms her feelings for Theodore.

Fuseli’s source was the English poet John Dryden’s verse translation (published 1700) of a story from the Italian author Giovanni Bocaccio’s Decameron (written 1349–53).