The Legend of Briar Rose is the title of a series of paintings by the Pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones which were begun before 1874 but not completed until 1890. The four original paintings – The Briar Wood, The Council Chamber, The Garden Court and The Rose Bower – and an additional ten adjoining panels, are located at Buscot Park in Oxfordshire, England.

The four major panels were first exhibited at Thomas Agnew & Sons Gallery in Bond Street, London in 1890. They were acquired by Alexander Henderson, later to become the Lord Faringdon, for Buscot Park. When Burne-Jones visited the house and saw the paintings in their new setting he advised on the extension of the frames of each of the four paintings and painted ten smaller panels to fill in the gap, which continued the rose motif from the main paintings.

The paintings depict a moment in the story of "Sleeping Beauty", the title of the series coming from the version presented by the Brothers Grimm in their collection of 1812.

Each major panel measures 49 by 98¼ inches but the ten joining panels vary in width. The paintings do not tell a sequential story but record the same moment in each location. Running beneath each of the major panels is an inscription of a poem by William Morris.

The painting depicts the discovery of the sleeping soldiers by a Knight. In their slumber they have become completed entwined by the barbed thorns of the Briar rose.

Under The Briar Wood the inscription reads:

"The fateful slumber floats and flows
About the tangle of the rose;
But lo! the fated hand and heart
To rend the slumberous curse apart!"

The painting shows the scene in the Council chamber. The members of the council sleep, as does the King who is slumped on his throne. Under the draped curtains and through the window further soldiers can be seen sleeping.