Joy was born in the Kent village of Monchelsea Boughton in 1812. His father, a wealthy landowner, discouraged his artistic ambitions, and in the hope that the drudgery of student life might dampen the boy's enthusiasm, sent him to London to study under Samuel Drummond, ARA. However, Joy's experience of studio life had the opposite effect and he resolved to become an artist. After his marriage to Eliza Spratt in 1839, through which he won the friendship and patronage of Lord Panmure, he quickly established himself as a leading artist. He executed many works for Queen Victoria, including portraits of the infant Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal, in the early 1840s.

Joy's success in portraiture never overshadowed his reputation as a subject painter, and he was perhaps best known for such works as Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, A Medical Consultation and Prayer. The present painting, exhibited at the British Institution in 1843, is the first of two versions, another appearing at the Royal Academy fourteen years later. Two young girls are shown trying to foretell 'the course of true love' by burning lights, the life of which will reflect their chances. The choice of subject typifies the vogue for German culture in England in the 1840s.