Le Morte... Page 3

Lancelot and Guinevere's depictions are based on the likenesses of artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his sometime model and mistress Jane Morris --wife of Rossetti's friend, poet and designer William Morris. I wish I had taken it a step further and depicted William Morris as Arthur, but instead drew King Arthur in a more traditional way. Anyway -- a sort of in-joke for Pre-Raphaelites fans.

I thought I was being clever, until I saw Barry Windsor-Smith had done the same thing in his Excalibur portfolio -- and I'm not sure, but I think he used William Morris as Arthur -- and maybe Edward Burne-Jones as Galahad and maybe William Holman Hunt as Merlin?

Anyway, with Rossetti/Lancelot and Jane Morris/Guinevere, it's what Hollywood might call obvious casting. I think Rossetti himself painted Jane as Guinevere at least once and he or a contemporary artist had depicted him as Lancelot.