Tristram and Yseult (private collection) is a large oil painting that Burne-Jones worked on in 1871-2 but left unfinished at his death in 1898. The picture was included in his second studio sale, held at Christie's on 5 June 1919 (lot 162), with the incorrect title The Fountain of Youth; and it was still called this when it re-appeared at Christie's on 24 January 1975 (lot 57). The correct identification depends largely on the evidence of preparatory drawings. They include the present study, which is inscribed in the hand of Philip Burne-Jones, the artist's son. The head on the left in the study is that of Sir Tristram himself. However, the woman he is kissing is not, as might be imagined, La Belle Yseult, the wife of King Mark of Cornwall, with whom he conducts a passionate adulterous affair; she is his wife, confusingly called Yseult of the White Hands, the daughter of King Howell of Brittany. The married couple are the most prominent figures in the picture, while La Belle Yseult plays a subsidiary role. On stylistic grounds the drawing can be dated to the early 1870s, the period when the picture was in progress.