after burne-jones' 1884 painting "king cophetua and the beggar maid" was a great success at the 1889 exposition universelle in paris, "love among the ruins" was loaned for exhibition at the société nationale des beaux-arts in 1893. while back in paris, the prominent label warning that it was a watercolour and so susceptible to water damage was ignored, and an egg white wash was applied at the goupil gallery as a temporary varnish while the painting was being prepared for reproduction in photogravure.