This large-scale watercolour depicts Hermia, one of the central characters from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. As confirmed by her aunt, Katharine Asquith, the figure is probably modelled on Amelia Margaret Graham (1852–1900), third daughter of William Graham, known as ‘Amy’. Burne-Jones has chosen the scene where Hermia wakes from an enchanted sleep in the woods and is eventually allowed to marry her beloved Lysander.

The picture, then hanging in the White Room, is referred to in an unpublished description of selected contents of Mells Manor compiled many years later by Frances Horner. It states: ‘The water colour in green is by E. Burne Jones, and given to Mr. William Graham. It is unfinished.’¹