The design for The Death of Orpheus and the Orpheus story as a whole, once again gave the opportunity for Burne-Jones to identify with the main character. The story of Orpheus's lost love and his attempt to retrieve it echoes his relationship with Maria Zambaco, a period of bliss is cut short when Eurydice dies after being bitten by a snake, his intense lamentation results in him journeying to Hades in an effort to retrieve his lost love. Burne-Jones had recently experienced a catastrophic episode which resulted in Maria's suicide attempt and their relationship was forever altered afterwards. It is suggested here that the Death of Orpheus signifies the death of a love, consequently he was not willing to abandon the design when an illustrated book was no longer feasible and he re-used it in more detail in a drawing of c.1875 (Ashmolean Acc no. WA1926.31 ) and on the Graham piano.