Inscribed on the reverse: King Acrisius having dreamed that he should be slain by the son of his daughter Danae built a brazen tower to shut Danae therein as being as she lived thinking so to undo the council of the Gods Inscribed: J W Mackail (in pencil) Caricature by J W Mackail Inscribed bottom left : J W M The cryptic description of the Danae story is from J W MacKail as indicated by the addition of his name added by a hand that closely resembles that of Georgiana Burne-Jones. Another hand has added his initials at the base of the page. The finished text as it appeared to accompany the painting when it was exhibited in the West Gallery of The New Gallery in 1888 (No 54) was as follows "King Acrisius having dreamed that he should be slain by the son of his daughter, Danae, built a brazen tower in which to imprison her as long as she lived, thinking so to escape his fate."
J W Mackail lived at 2 Mandeville Place, Manchester Square, London W1U 2BF
Father several times amused / himself when he had finished / a picture by doing a Rubens / version of it