Burne-Jones (1833-98) was a British artist and designer closely associated with the later phase of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. In 1875 the politician Lord Arthur Balfour commissioned Burne-Jones, whose work was often inspired by mythology and legend, to create a series of paintings for his London home. The artist chose to re-tell the story of the Perseus myth in William Morris's poem 'The Earthly Paradise' and worked on the project for ten years but it was never completed. Southampton City Art Gallery has ten full-size studies in gouache, cartoons which Burne-Jones made to perfect his designs before beginning the final paintings in oil.