This picture, commissioned by William Graham, was based on a lost watercolour dated 1861 and there are possible connections between Burne-Jones's subject, Wagner's opera Tannhaiiser (which was produced in Paris in 1860), and Swinburne's poem, Laus Veneris (begun in 1862).
Henry James was among those who praised the picture when it was first exhibited.
Provenance
Commissioned by William Graham; Christie's, 1886; Sir William Agnew; Philip Agnew, then by descent; Sotheby's, 1957; Agnew; Huntington Hartford Museum; Sotheby's; Agnew's.