Benjamin Robert Haydon (1786-1846) was known for his large scale historical subjects and genre paintings. A turbulent and quarrelsome man, he eventually committed suicide after the failure of an exhibition of his own work at the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly. His "Resurrection of Lazarus" completed in December, 1822 was painted on a canvas 19 feet long by 15 feet high.

John Scott of The London Magazine had died from a wound received in a duel with Jonathan Henry Christie, a friend and associate of John Gibson Lockhart (1794-1854), the biographer of Walter Scott.