[1][2] The painting was originally commissioned from Burne-Jones by his patron George Howard, 9th Earl of Carlisle, to hang on a wall in the library of Naworth Castle.

Within this period, he also designed the stage set for the play King Arthur by J. Comyns Carr that premiered in London in January 1895.

[2] By 1885, the association with Arthur reached the point where Burne-Jones had to ask Howard to cancel or revise his original commission, replacing the grand scene with a smaller painting focused on the departed king.

"[3] Following the artist's death in 1898, the painting in its frame with Latin inscription passed from his executors to Sydney Goldman, who was acquainted in Rottingdean with Burne-Jones.

There it was bought by Luis A. Ferré, a politician and founder of the Ponce Museum of Art who would later become Governor of Puerto Rico.