The 1933 sale catalogue identified the interior as the Green Room of Old Drury Land, by which, presumably, is meant the actors' resting room of Henry Holland's theatre, in existence from 1794 until it was destroyed by fire in 1809. This identification, however, seems unlikely: the interior is too grand for a Green Room, which, in any case, would not have been decorated with such impressive works of art. The sculpture belonged to Thomas Hope. His Antinous is the centre of attention, to the right is the celebrated Hope Athene (thought to be the work of Pheidias), and beyond is a Greco-Roman lion which also belonged to Hope. All these pieces were purchased in Italy in the 1790's, and during the first three decades of the nineteenth century they stood in Hope's town mansion in Duchess Street. In the picture gallery Veronese's Consecration of Saint Nicholas is visible, below which hangs Sir George Beaumont's Rembrandtesque portrait of a man. As far as it is known these pictures were not exhibited together until Beaumont's picture was transfered from the British Museum to the National Gallery in 1828, and they are never known to have been exhibited with the sculpture.

The picture's association with Drury Lane, however, should not be dismissed. The 1933 sale catalogue identified the figures as 'well known actors and actresses of the day, including Madame Vestris, Kemble, Tom Cooke and Liston'. It is true, for example, that the figure with his arm round Antinous looks very like John Phillip Kemble (Compare with Beechey's portrait, Dulwich No. 111). While the uniform of the figure on the right bears some resemblance to that of the 11th Hussars, it is more likely to be a theatrical costume. Furthermore, in 1811 Thomas Hope was appointed to a committee of three responsible for selecting designs for the new theatre in Drury Lane.

Michael William Sharp exhibited forty-six pictures at the Royal Academy between 1801 and 1836.