The Sailing of the Sword

The subject is taken from William Morris's poem of the same name, published in his first volume of poetry, The Defence of Guenevere, 1858. Margaret Murray-Cookesley lived in London and exhibited at the Royal Academy (1884-1902), the New Watercolour Society and elsewhere. She is best known for her Eastern genre subjects; this example of Pre-Raphaelitism, reminiscent of the work of S. H. Meteryard and other members of the Birmingham School, is therefore unusual. The influence may have been that of T. M. Rooke, Burne-Jones' studio assistant, to whom Murray-Cookesley is said to have been close. In fact her Eastern subjects also seem to bear some relationship to Rooke's work, the plebian figures and treatment of drapery and architecture all finding parallels in either Rooke's Old Testament pictures or his architectural studies.

The address on the back - 12 Observatory Avenue, Campden Hill - dates the picture to the 1880s, this being the address from which she sent pictures to the Royal Academy from 1884 to 1889.