An inked inscription recto in the lower margin identifies the ballet; an inked inscription verso in a period hand identifies the sitter as either Monsieur 'Jones' or Monsieur 'Jonet.'

Originally titled Fiametta, or, The Devil in Love, the ballet was first presented on 25 February 1864  (O.S. 13 February) by the Ballet of the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre in St Petersburg Choreographed by Arthur Saint-Léon to music by Ludwig Minkus, it starred Martha Muravieva as Fiametta.

Later that year it was restaged by Saint-Léon in Paris under the title Néméa, ou, l'amour vengé (Nemea, or, Love Avenged) in two acts and four scenes for the Ballet of the Académie Royale de Musique, with Minkus revising his score. Its Paris première was on 11 July 1864 at the Académie Royale de Musique in Paris.