In December 1859 Millais wrote to Dalziel: ‘I have finished the Finding of the Treasure, & I will set about another immediately ... There is more white used in the last than I like but although comparatively simple its design bothered me a great deal’. Millais later wrote that he had to alter this design on the wood six times in order to achieve the level of detail he required.
This parable from Matthew opens: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field’.