The original lithograph is a political satire and shows a group of five musicians playing the violin (Sir Robert Peel), the clarinet (Duke of Wellington), the trombone (Lord Stanley), the French horn (Lord Lyndhurst) and the cello (Sir James Graham).  It was first published on 31 December 1840 by Thomas McLean’s General Lithographic Establishment, London, which means that Talbot's photograph of the lithograph must have been taken some time after then.