that summer morris and rossetti visited oxford and finding the oxford union debating-hall under construction, pursued a commission to paint the upper walls with scenes from "le morte d'arthur" and to decorate the roof between the open timbers. seven artists were recruited, among them valentine prinsep and arthur hughes, and the work was hastily begun. the frescoes, done too soon and too fast, began to fade at once and now are barely decipherable. rossetti recruited two sisters, bessie and jane burden, as models for the oxford union murals, and jane became morris's wife in 1859.