This tempera is very well preserved, mainly because it was painted on thin linen canvas, stuck onto thin cardboard. This is stiff enough to reduce the cracking that develops on flexible canvas. It also made it unnecessary to add the animal glue lining which has spoilt the opaque white effect of Blake's chalk preparatory layer in many temperas. As a result, Blake's delicate painted details can still be seen as he intended. This is the only Blake tempera in this room in a frame dating from the time it was painted. Blake may have chosen the frame design himself. Gallery label, August 2004
Burne-Jones was aware of Blake's works from 1861,when he was taken by Rossetti to meet Alexander Gilchrist, who was working upon a life of Blake. ( Memorials Vol 1 p 231). Artists are drawn to portraying processions across a canvas as it is a simple way of emphasizing the two dimensional space and an effective way of structuring a design, hence its frequent occurrence as a pictorial device. Like Blake, Burne-Jones introduces a statuesque quality in the line of figures in Moritura (1865-66 Hanover College collection, USA) and The Wedding Procession of Psyche, 1894-95, (Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique). Brussels)