Robineau was a composer and violinist as well as artist; he used the name Alexandre for his musical and Auguste for his artistic activities. He was in London a great deal in the 1780s coming into contact with the Prince of Wales in both his professional capacities.

Abel was an important composer and performer on the viola da gamba, who came to London in 1759 and, with Johan Christian 'London' Bach, ran musical life in the capital, rather as Handel had done a generation before. Abel also served the Duke of York and the Queen, who owned Gainsborough's famous portrait of him (now in the Huntington).

In this portrait he appears much younger than his 55 years which reflects the visual language by which inspiration was conveyed in the period. Contemporaries would have had no difficulty in interpreting the strange swiveling of the eyes, one catching the light: they would have quoted Shakespeare's description of the 'Poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling'. As a matter of fact he is seated on a chair, playing a harpsichord, wearing a buff jacket and a white waistcoat.

The signature 'Robineau 1780' was once legible.