The Pilgrim at the Gate of Idleness

Based loosely on Chaucer's "Roumant de la Rose," this painting reflects the artist's Pre-Raphaelite fascination with medieval themes. The painting forms a trilogy, along with the monumental "Love Leading the Pilgrim" at the Tate Gallery in London and "Heart of the Rose," in a private collection. In the Dallas picture, the Pilgrim meets Idleness personified as a beguiling maiden. Having succeeded in escaping that temptation, the Pilgrim is led by love through a briar thicket, depicted in the Tate Gallery painting. The third moment in the narrative is depicted in "Heart of the Rose," where a winged figure leads the Pilgrim to the Rose, personified as a beautiful woman within a rose bush.