THE BEGUILING OF MERLIN (1877) †NCM 1900-642 The original painting was commissioned by Frederick Richards Leyland who was a ship owner and art-collector from Liverpool.
This work explores infatuation, power, entrapment and betrayal within a tale from the legends of King Arthur and took on a deeply personal meaning for Burne-Jones. In this scene Nimue, the lady of the lakes, enchants an infatuated Merlin into a deep sleep, before she reads his spell book. Merlin is trapped within a hawthorn bush, which itself symbolises enchantment. The Arthurian legends were a favourite of Burne-Jones and the themes of faith and heroism that they expressed fascinated the Victorians. Nimue is based on the British sculptor and model Maria Zambaco (1843-1914) who was the mistress of BurneJones; they had a tumultuous affair and she often appears in his works as a femme fatale or temptress. She first met BurneJones in 1866 when her mother commissioned him to paint her. The affair ended abruptly in 1869, but they both remained in close contact afterwards. This is Burne-Jones’s last major work with her as feature model for his lead female character. 25