This painting is said to have been inspired by a passage in the Histories by ancient Greek writer Herodotus (c. 484 – c. 425 BC) who was referred to as the “Father of History” by Roman scholar and politician Cicero

Herodotus described how young women were married off in Babylonia:

In each village, those who had daughters ready for marriage would bring them each year to a place where a great number of men would then gather. An official announcer would ask the girls to rise up one after another to be auctioned off. The announcer would start with the prettiest girl, then after having collected a considerable sum of money, he would summon more who were similarly attractive; but he would only sell on condition that the buyers marry the girls. All the rich Babylonian men of marriage age, bidding higher and higher, bought the prettiest girls. As for the young men of the working class, since they had less need for marrying pretty wives than for finding those who could bring a dowry, they would take the ugliest, in return for which they would receive an amount of money. In fact, as soon as the auctioneer had finished selling the pretty ones, he would bring up the ugliest, or ones who were handicapped, and offer money to someone who would promise to marry her. Thus, the earning from selling the pretty girls served to find husbands for the ugly. A father was not allowed to choose a husband for his daughter, and those who had bought a girl could not bring her home without promising to marry her. Once a buyer had found a guarantor, he could take his bride home. If all parties could not agree, the law dictated that the money must be returned

In addition to Herodotus’ writing, the artist also drew reference from the collection of Middle Eastern artefacts in the British Museum. In the painting, on the wall and rendered in light tones of blue and yellow is apparently an Assyrian frieze depicting a ritual lion hunt. To the right hangs a Persian rug used as a curtain over an entryway where a man is seen coming in. Two Ancient Egyptian-style flabella in light blue and white are held up by servants next to the entrance

In the foreground are 12 girls in different postures waiting to be presented as potential brides. Behind them on the white marble platform is a girl being unveiled for inspection, who should be very pretty given the serious interest shown by the auction participants in the front row

This painting was bought in 1882 by Thomas Holloway, a British entrepreneur and philanthropist who founded the Royal Holloway College which was then a women-only school (it started accepting male students in 1945 and is now part of the University of London system). On the school’s website, it is written that “Holloway bought this painting as stimulus for debate about women’s new role in society …… By gaining a university education, the students were giving themselves the option of a career as an alternative to marriage”