In 1836 the Viennese merchant Rudolf Arthaber decided to add a Wilkie to his collection of contemporary German, Austrian, Belgian and French paintings.  Delighted by the prospect of being represented in Vienna, Wilkie completed this picture in two years expressly for his new patron. The subject, of the artist’s own devising, was intended to be ‘of a pleasing character, and of that general interest that may be understood in all countries’.