Half-length of the sitter as a boy aged apparently about ten, in a blue jacket with plain brass buttons, a buff waistcoat and trousers and a white ruffle-collared shirt. His crossed hands are resting on the back of the chair on which he is leaning forward, holding a half-open book in the right and a small dog in the crook of his left arm. Anthony Mervyn Reeve Story was born on 8 May 1791, the son of the Reverend William Story (b. 1734), rector of Hinton Martell in Dorset, and Bridget Prower (d. 1827). Following a double-first at Wadham College, Oxford, Story became a barrister. On 22 November 1819 he married Margaret Maskelyne, daughter and only child of the fifth Astronomer Royal, Nevil Maskelyne (1765-1811): they had six children - two sons and four daughters. Story was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1823 and changed the family name to Story-Maskelyne in 1845 after he inherited the Maskelyne estates at Purton and Bassett Down in Wiltshire. He died on 15 May 1879.