 According to Birtwistle himself, while working on the score he found a homonymous woodcut by Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder, which reflected his own thinking, served as an inspiration for the title and provided a clearer focus for his work.This is a part of a long line of compositions being stimulated in some way by visual art, such as Rachmaninoff's "Isle of the Dead", Respighi's "Trittico botticelliano", Vaughan Williams's "", Henri Dutilleux's "Timbres, espace, mouvement", and Mark-Anthony Turnage's "Three Screaming Popes".Bruegel's woodcut depicts a procession led by the Time, on a chariot drawn by horses, followed by Death.