This chalk drawing, copied from Mercier's The Music Party, depicts Frederick playing the violoncello. In 1737 Lord Hervey (both a member of the British court and political satirist) affected to be shocked by the sight of Frederick playing this instrument. He wrote of him in his Memoirs of the Court of George II, as an immoral fool,

seated close to an open window of his apartment [at Kensington Palace], with his violocello between his legs, singing French and Italian songs to his own playing for an hour or two together, whilst his audience was composed of all the underling servants and rabble of the palace.

Memoirs of the Court of George II - Lord Hervey