Nicholas Rowe’s tragedy The Fair Penitent, first performed in 1703, was among his most popular plays and a favourite performance of the Delavals in their amateur theatricals. The present painting may have been made in relation to the performance of 1767, which attracted considerable critical attention (see DN91). The moment depicted in the picture is from Act V, where Calista (Anne Delaval, Lady Stanhope), having offered to kill herself with the dagger, is restrained by her father, Sciolto (in life her own father, Sir John Delaval), who seizes her arm. It is suggested here, partly on stylistic grounds and the role played he also played in supporting the Delavals’ theatrical endeavours, that the painting is by Benjamin Wilson.