Madame Vestris played Oberon, the King of the Fairies in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream at Covent Garden Theatre which she leased with her husband Charles Mathews from 1839 until 1842. The production was innovatory for being the first in two hundred years to attempt to restore Shakespeare's text to the play, and Madame Vestris was widely praised for its splendid scenes and music. She was the first in London to use Mendelssohn's full score, along with some Beethoven for Oberon's incantation, and portions of Weber's Precosia for a ballet at Titania and Bottom's exit.

Vestris is shown in this print with the spear she carried in the role, wearing a crown and a knee-length gathered tunic that showed her shapely legs for which she was renowned.

Tinsel prints were created from etched portraits of theatrical stars in popular roles they played on the London stage. They were hand-painted in watercolour and decorated with scraps of material and tinsel additions. They were popular during the first half of the 19th century and were considered an adult, rather than a child's hobby. By the 1830s it was possible to buy the tinsel, leather and feather ornaments to go with each image.