Lady Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby were women of aristocratic Anglo-Irish descent who overcame family opposition and scandalized contemporary society to elope together. They came to Plas Newydd, Clwyd, in 1779 and lived there for over 50 years. They adopted male dress, signed their correspondence jointly and refused to spend a single night away from home. Their mutual devotion and idyllic way of life became part of contemporary mythology. They received visits from numerous celebrities, including the Duke of Wellington, William Wordsworth and Walter Scott. It is not known when the amateur artist Lady Leighton made the painting on which this lithograph is based. It was said that neither lady would sit for a portrait, but each wished for that of the other.