Burne-Jones : Object Label : D.1927.73 One side of this sheet shows the complete composition ofThe Eve of the Deluge and includes an additional full-length female figure walking through the opening on the extreme left, who was eventually omitted in the final composition.On the reverse are pencil sketches of two rows of six figures inscribed 'Nimue, Merlin, Morgan la Fay, Arthur, Guenevere, Launcelot / Tristram, Iseult, Palomides, Bors, Percival, Galahad'. These have nothing to do with the famous series of tapestries of subjects from the Legend of the Holy Grail, which date from the early 1890s, but instead relate to a project of 1863, in which Burne-Jones proposed to design a set of hangings covered with figures from Malory's Morte d'Arthur. Whilst the artist's wife Georgiana states in her biography of her husband that she embroidered Merlin and Morgan la Fay and started Arthur and Launcelot, as with many of Burne-Jones's schemes, the whole project was never realised, although some parts of it were developed as independent compositions.
"Oh, how happy we were Janey and I, busy in the morning with needlework..." Memorials Vol 1 p 210. Linda Parry states "Attached to the embroidery of King Arthur is a label stating "... drawn in 1863 by Edward Burne-Jones, upon the holland and embroidered by GBJ. It was intended for one of a set from the Morte d'Arthur, with which we hoped to decorate a room of our own. Note made by G Burne-Jones Feb 27' 09'." William Morris, Victoria and Albert Museum catalogue M11 p 238, 1996. Typically for the artist, the ideas found in this scheme resulted in other projects, for example Morgan Le Fay became a watercolour painting, and in the three knights at the chapel is the embryo of the much later The Attainment: The Vision of the Holy Grail to Sir Galahad, Sir Bors, and Sir Percival at the chapel of the San Grael - Galahad at the Shrine, tapestry, Quest for the Holy Grail series.