This watercolour shows Arthur holding the sword Excalibur and demonstrates Burne-Jones's continuing interest in Arthurian legend in the late 1850's, following his work with Gabriel Rossetti on the mural decorations of the Oxford Union building, which were inspired by Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. The density of composition and the rich colours reveal Burne-Jones's continuing debt to Rossetti (who was himself in 1859 preparing designs for Edward Moxon's illustrated edition of Tennyson's poems, among which are drawings of Arthurian subjects comparable to this work). It is thought that this watercolour was one from a series of watercolours perhaps intended as a design for tiles or panels within a piece of furniture, or as an initial idea for stained glass.