Portrait of EB-J before he grew a beard. This is one of several preliminary drawings in which Rossetti developed the composition of his mural painting for the Oxford Union. It depicts Sir Launcelot asleep and dreaming of Queen Guenevere. The Pre-Raphaelite artists involved in the Oxford Union scheme used each other as models - a note on the reverse of this sheet, in Charles Fairfax Murray's hand, records that the figure of Launcelot was done from Burne-Jones. It is a rare image of the young and unbearded Burne-Jones, who was then twenty-three,and quite feasible Jane Morris as the model for Guinevere. Purchased from Charles Fairfax Murray and presented by Subscribers, 1903.
A study for Rossetti's mural in the Oxford Union. Burne-Jones, who also worked on this famous scheme of decoration, posed for the figure of Launcelot. It is almost the only likeness of him before he grew a beard a few months later.
