Catherine and Petruchio, from Act IV, Scene i from William Shakespeare's 'The Taming of the...

Catherine is seated left, biting her necklace. Petruchio is standing, with his back turned centre, holding her cloak. A lad in the background has a large band box and a table is laid on the right, with three other figures. The figures in the painting were identified in Finden as - from left to right - Katharine, Hortensio, Petruchio, Grumio, and the tailor's and haberdasher's assistants. As a reviewer in the Athenaeum, 26 May 1832, put it, "Nothing can be finer than the made-up look which she has of resistance, and the havoc which her teeth are making of her necklace, of which she seems quite unconscious." It has been pointed out the figure of the tailor, second from right, was posed for by the artist, David Wilkie - who was 47 in 1832.