Characteristically rich in poetic feeling if still somewhat hesitant in drawing, this watercolour almost certainly dates from 1861. Quite apart from the general style and technique, there are distinct iconographical parallels with watercolours firmly documented to that year. the figure on the left is comparable to the Clerk in Clerk Saunders (fig 1). The cat curled up at the feet of the girl in yellow reappears on a cushion in Laus Veneris (private collection0. And the two figures in the background resemble the servants who look out of the window in an unfinished watercolour in the Tate Gallery (fig 2). This itself is undated but the principle figure is so close to that of Nimue in Merlin and Nimue (fig 3), a watercolour which undoubtedly dates from 1861, that there can be little doubt that the Tate drawing does too.

There are echoes of Burne-Jones's formative first visit to Italy in 1859, made with the encouragement of Ruskin and with his aesthetic priorities very much in mind. Burne-Jones's travelling companion was G.F. Watts's pupil Val Prinsep and many years later Prinsep recalled how, in Venice "Ruskin in hand we sought out every cornice, design or monument praised by him. We bowed before Tintoret and scoffed at Sansovino. A broken pediment was a thing of horror." During their six months stay Burne-Jones made numerous copies of Old master paintings and frescoes (now in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge), and his work during the next few years often betrays this experience. In the present watercolour, the figure on the left has a look of being lifted from some Florentine fresco, while the technique of laying varnish over yellow or orange watercolour gives the composition a golden glow, as if Burne-Jones was consciously re-creating the effect of an early Italian painting on panel.

This effect is more usually found in some of his contemporary oil paintings which often have a decorative purpose. The triptych he executed for St. Paul's Church, Brighton, in 1861 (Tate Gallery) is a major example; others were panels fr the painted furniture that was currently fashionable in his circle and was to be put on a commercial footing with the foundation of the firm of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Co. this year. Burne-Jones was a partner and the chief supplier of figurative designs, and it is possible that our watercolour itself was associated with furniture decoration.

The picture's subject remains elusive. Chaucer seems a possibility, although this is no more that a guess. the black object held by the figure on the left, with a "tail" which almost suggests it might be another cat could be a clue.
Christie's Nov 2003

Georgiana Burne-Jones "Memorials" Vol I p. 225:
"There was a small watercolour "Laus Veneris" too, which contained the germ of one of Edward's most elaborate pictures, and I remember that in it was the only cat ever allowed a place in his serious work. ... Perhaps it was a silent tribute to the memory of his own friend and companion "Tom", who had lately met with a sudden death: chance words now and then taught me that such a thing was possible"

The present work does contain elements that appear in the later known versions of "Laus Veneris"and Georgiana includes this description in the chapter for 1861. At that time Swinburne lived nearby and was a frequent visitor and the subject "Laus Veneris", which became Swinburne's long poem, was most likely discussed and possibly gave inspiration to this watercolour.

The last part of Georgiana's comment is very significant, in that she reveals from a lifetime of observation, how the artist wove elements of autobiography into his work.