This work was commissioned in 1730 by Robert Jones (1706-42) of Fonmon Castle, in Glamorgan. He stands at the right, with his sisters Mary and Elizabeth, and his younger brother Oliver. His widowed mother Mary is shown in dark blue, with her spaniel. The peasant boy struggling with a monkey strikes an ironic contrast with the decorous family group. Jones was Sheriff for Glamorgan in 1729 and became friendly with John Wesley. Hogarth's informal composition and delicate handling are indebted to Philip Mercier, court painter to Frederick, Prince of Wales.
