A page from the facsimile edition of Burne-Jones' Flower Book, one of 38 watercolour designs reproduced by Henri Piazza et Cie, for the Fine Art Society, London in 1905. 'Venus's Looking Glass' is a common name for three different plants: Legousia speculum-veneris (a hybrid native to Europe, the most likely candidate), the Venus Looking-Glass weed flower (least likely as it's native to North America), or the campanula, more commonly known as 'rampion' (Phyteuma). I tend to favour the latter, because of the connection of rampion to the 'Rapunzel' story, which Burne-Jones is known to have liked. It is less of an obvious connection, but the manner in which he has depicted the long, flowing hair of the figure, with only the moon for a mirror, recalls the Rapunzel story. The image has its roots in two earlier paintings called 'Mirror of Venus', a version of 1867-77 (Collection of Lloyd Webber), and a later one, completed 1870-76 (Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon).

• Purchased, 1953.
• © Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery