187 cm × 111 cm (74 in × 44 in)
Wikimedia Commons
The Beguiling of Merlin is a painting by the British Pre-RaphaeliteGroup of English artists formed in 1848 to counter what they saw as the corrupting influence of the late-Renaissance painter Raphael. painter Edward Burne-Jones, created between 1873 and 1877, depicting a story taken from Arthurian Legend. Merlin had fallen in love with Nimue (also called Nimiane, Vivian or Vivien), the Lady of the Lake, who profited from his infatuation by learning his skills in enchantment. The painting shows her sending Merlin into a deep sleep.[1]
Burne-Jones’s display of eight large works at the opening exhibition of the Grosvenor Gallery, London, in 1877, one of which was The Beguiling of Merlin, established him as one of the leading artists of his day.[2]
The sculptor Maria Zambaco, probably Burne-Jones’s mistress from 1866 to 1872, was the model for the head of Nimue.[3]
The work was commissioned from Burne-Jones by Frederick Richards Leyland, a Liverpool ship-owner and art collector, who owned it until 1892. It was purchased by William Hesketh Lever for the Lady Lever Art Gallery in 1918, where it remains today.[1]