The Beguiling of Merlin is a painting by the Pre-Raphaelite painter Edward Burne-Jones

Edward Burne-Jones

Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet was a British artist and designer closely associated with the later phase of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, who worked closely with William Morris on a wide range of decorative arts as a founding partner in Morris, Marshall, Faulkner, and Company...

 which was created between 1872 and 1877.

The painting depicts a scene from Arthurian legend, the infatuation of Merlin

Merlin

Merlin is a legendary figure best known as the wizard featured in the Arthurian legend. The standard depiction of the character first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written c. 1136, and is based on an amalgamation of previous historical and legendary figures...

 with the Lady of the Lake

Lady of the Lake

The Lady of the Lake is the name of several related characters who play parts in the Arthurian legend. These characters' roles include giving King Arthur his sword Excalibur, enchanting Merlin, and raising Lancelot after the death of his father...

, Nimue. Merlin is shown trapped, helpless in a hawthorn bush

Common Hawthorn

Crataegus monogyna, known as common hawthorn or single-seeded hawthorn, is a species of hawthorn native to Europe, northwest Africa and western Asia. It has been introduced in many other parts of the world where it is an invasive weed...

 as Nimue reads from a book of spells.

The work was commissioned from Burne-Jones by Frederick Richards Leyland

Frederick Richards Leyland

Frederick Richards Leyland was a Liverpool shipowner and art collector.-Career:Leyland served as an apprentice in the firm of John Bibby, Sons & Co, where he rose to become a partner. In 1867 he took on the tenancy of Speke Hall, Liverpool and in 1869 bought a house in London at 49 Princes Gate...

, a Liverpool ship-owner and art-collector, in the late 1860s. After a false start blamed on "poor materials" Burne-Jones began work on the painting proper in 1873, finishing the body of the work by the end of 1874; although the painting was not first exhibited until 1877 at the opening exhibition of the Grosvenor Gallery

Grosvenor Gallery

The Grosvenor Gallery was an art gallery in London founded in 1877 by Sir Coutts Lindsay and his wife Blanche. Its first directors were J. Comyns Carr and Charles Hallé...

 in London.

Burne-Jones used Maria Zambaco

Maria Zambaco

Maria Zambaco was born Marie Terpsithea Cassavetti , was an artist and model favoured by the Pre-Raphaelites....

, who was probably his mistress from 1866 to 1872, for the model for the head of Nimue.

The painting was purchased by Lord Leverhulme in 1918 and remains in the Lady Lever Art Gallery

Lady Lever Art Gallery

The Lady Lever Art Gallery was founded in 1922 by Sunlight Soap magnate, William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme, and dedicated to the memory of his wife....

 to the present day.

The painting features on the cover of the novel Possession: A Romance

Possession: A Romance

Possession: A Romance is a 1990 bestselling novel by British writer A. S. Byatt. It is a winner of the Man Booker Prize.Part historical as well as contemporary fiction, the title Possession refers to issues of ownership and independence between lovers, the practice of collecting historically...

 by A. S. Byatt

A. S. Byatt

Dame Antonia Susan Duffy, DBE is an English novelist, poet and Booker Prize winner...

 and The Last Pre-Raphaelite by Fiona MacCarthy

Fiona MacCarthy

Fiona MacCarthy OBE is a British biographer and cultural historian best known for her studies of 19th and 20th century arts, crafts and design....