The celebrated actor-manager David Garrick is shown with his wife, the Viennese dancer Eva-Maria Veigel. She is depicted in a coquettish pose, either inspiring the actor or distracting him from his work. Garrick was apparently displeased with this likeness painted by Hogarth and he and the artist quarrelled. Although Garrick paid £15 for the painting it was still in Hogarth’s studio at the time of the artist’s death.