Edward Burne-Jones had resigned his membership in…

The features of Maria Zambaco were clearly recognizable in the barely draped Phyllis (as they are in several of Burne-Jones's finest works), and the undraped nakedness of Demophoön, coupled with the suggestion of female sexual assertiveness, had offended Victorian sensibilities.

Burne-Jones was asked to make a slight alteration, but instead "withdrew not only the picture from the walls, but himself from the Society." (J. J. Roget, A History of the "Old" Water-Colour Society, (1891), quoted in Wildman, Edward Burne-Jones, p. 138)

Burne-Jones had been elected an associate of the Society in 1864 and had exhibited, among other works, The Merciful Knight, the first picture which fully revealed his ripened personality as an artist.

The next six years had seen a series of fine watercolors at the same gallery.

Maria Zambaco's mother, Mrs. Cassavetti had commissioned Burne-Jones in 1866 to paint her daughter in Cupid finding Psyche, an introduction that had led to their tragic affair.