The quotation on the label on the back of the painting from the opening lines of canto III of Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock (an 18th-century narrative poem) is intended to evoke the scene and period illustrated in the painting: 'a Structure of Majestick Frame, Which from neighb'ring Hampton takes its Name … Here Thou, Great Anna! Whom three Realms obey, Dost sometimes Counsel take – and sometimes Tea'. The Anna referred to is Queen Anne, reigning at the time the poem was written. The people listening to the young man reading aloud are dressed in costumes vaguely reminiscent of the early 18th century and Hampton Court Palace can be seen in the background. Wingfield often painted subjects connected to the Palace, its history and those who had lived there.

Signed and dated: J D Wingfield.1844. On the back of the frame is the artist's label and his address (2 Elizabeth Terrace, Chelsea) and a quotation from the opening lines of canto III of Alexander Pope's poem, The Rape of the Lock.