Gavin Hamilton moved to Rome in the 1740's where he became an important excavator, scholar and dealer of Classical sculpture. During the years 1752-1756 Hamilton was back in Britain working primarily as a portrait painter, but upon his return to Rome he established himself as a leading Neo-Classical painter, for example his large canvases of the Story of Paris painted for the Villa Borghese. This and the following lot were presumably painted 'in situ' during his second and final stay in Rome.