Born in west London in the mid nineteenth-century, Margaret Dovaston would become one of Britain’s most promising female artists of her generation. Dovaston excelled in genre scenes. She aimed to attain a representation of what it was like in England during the eighteenth-century. Her exquisite and refined technique, particularly in the representation of texture is an accolade of the highest merit. Her paintings were created purely from imagination, however she was an avid collector of seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth-century costumes, furniture and antiques, which she collected at her studio and museum, which she carefully captured in her paintings. She delighted in capturing finite details, such as a glistening goblet of wine, a gentleman’s lace cuff and a sumptuous array of culinary delicacies within her compositions; so many hidden details, one must look closely for them to be revealed. Dovaston said of her paintings, “They tell a story in which the spectator is invited to fill in the details at will.”