This mezzotint ostensibly depicts Venus holding one of Cupid's arrows: the figure is adapted (in reverse) from Correggio's School of Love (National Gallery, London), which had been in the collection of Charles I and was sold during the Commonwealth. While there is no direct reference to Nell Gwynn here, clues are provided in the verse inscribed below: she is described as the 'Soveraigns Joy', and her identity as Nell rather than another mistress is provided by the similarity between the names Eleanor (or Ellen as she was often named) and Helen of Troy.

Despite the strong public interest in images of Charles II's mistresses during his reign, only a handful of impressions of this mezzotint have survived, including one in an album of prints compiled by Samuel Pepys.

Text adapted from Charles II: Art & Power, London, 2017