A study for a painting projected in about 1865 and never realised. It shows the three Fates looking down on a pair of lovers whose destiny they control. Further studies, including compositional drawings, are in Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery. It shows the granular, tonal style of Burne-Jones's drawings in the late 1860s. Also the drapery, which derives from his study of the pediment figures from the Parthenon, reveals his new interest in Classicism at this period.
The Fates was designed in 1865 and although Burne-Jones worked on various aspects of the idea it was never completed. The design for the ob=verall composition is in Birmingham Cite Art Gallery.