John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera, which opened in January 1728, played to packed houses. This is a study for a painting of a scene from Act III, showing the highwayman Macheath (centre) imprisoned in Newgate while his wife and mistress both plead for his release. Hogarth kept the drawing to hand when he started to paint on canvas and it has been splashed with oils. The painting is now in Tate Britain. In the Royal Collection by 1833 Cat. 79