Elizabeth Siddall began painting in 1852 and made over a hundred works in the following ten years. Her style and subject matter was close to Rossetti's, but their relationship was reciprocal, with each of their medieval, romantic dreams supporting the other's. They sometimes collaborated, and Siddall's compositions were copied by Rossetti for one of his pictures. Ruskin greatly admired her work, and paid her a retainer to support her career. Here she treats a chivalric subject, albeit one laden with sexual symbolism.