The Merciful Knight

Edward Burne-Jones painted the medieval scene of a knight receiving blessing from a figure of Christ who has descended from a wayside crucifix to embrace him. The armored knight kneels in a flowering meadow as Christ rewards an act of mercy with divine affection. The painting's flat, decorative style and romantic medievalism are characteristic of Burne-Jones's mature work.

The subject comes from a medieval legend in which a knight spares a defeated enemy and receives this miraculous reward. Burne-Jones was a leading figure of the Pre-Raphaelite movement's second generation, creating dreamlike images of legend and myth that influenced Art Nouveau. This early masterwork from 1863 now hangs at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, which holds the world's largest collection of his paintings and drawings.