The text of this manuscript was copied from a printed edition published at Lyon, probably around 1487 (see Kren and McKendrick 2003 no. 120). The illuminators did not follow the illustrations of the printed exemplar. The text of the Roman de la Rose was begun around 1220, possibly by Guillaume de Lorris and continued by Jean de Meun between 1269-1278. It is around 20,000 octosyllabic lines of French verse narrating the dream of a young lover, in which the long quest he has undertaken ends when he breaches the castle of Jealousy and obtains the rose. The earlier text is around 4,000 lines, and is lyrical and courtly, while the later addition is more didactic, scholarly, and pessimistic. Around 300 manuscript copies survive. Beginning with a list of rubrics (ff. 3-6v).
The medieval composition which Burne-Jones drew upon for The Wizard can be found in the British Library, the “Romant of the Rose”, Harley 4425 f114. In “The Wizard” (1890s, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery) he encapsulated this mystery. He portrays himself as such a being, revealing a magic mirror to a spellbound maiden who stands in awe of the powerful scene conjured before her eyes.