Although there are many 19th century prints of the circus, original drawings are rare, and this depicts a documented act being performed at Astley's Circus by the celebrated American equestrian performer known as The Young Hernandez (1832-1861) who toured Britain in 1849 and the early 1850s, and also worked with Pablo Fanque's touring circus. It was drawn by Thomas Henry Nicholson (d.1870), some of whose drawings are in the Tate Collection, that entitled Hark Hark the Lark (1851) showing a living-room piano recital, again evidence of Nicholson's enjoyment of performance.

The Young Hernandez arrived in England with Hernandez and Stone's Circus in 1849 and made his first appearance at Astley's Circus in London on 5 March, when he was 17, although the Press liked to decrease his age to 14 or 15 to make his achievements all the more momentous. This print depicts the part of his act when Hernandez galloped round the ring and leaped over the three pieces of canvas that we can see being held by the gentlemen in the ring. A publicity broadside printed by J.W. Last noted, March 1849:

‘…to the utter astonishment of the spectators – who could not believe their own eyes – he leaped over these one by one, the horse running at full gallop; first springing from the saddle on his feet, in the next round on his knees, on one foot, and with his back turned to the horse’s head, clearing at each leap the three pieces of canvas held close together, and which must have been nearly nine feet in breadth'

An engraving of The Young Hernandez performing at Astley's was published in The Illustrated London News, 17 March 1849, with praise of his astonishing feats: 'The ease, rapidity, and finish of his execution is surprising. He is not above 14 years age; and there is an elegance approaching poetry in his performances, which wins rapturous applause from crowded houses.'

This was obviously sketched at a performance and includes the riding master Signor Chiarrini with his lunge whip in the foreground, and Astley's well-known riding master and conductor of the ring from 1819 to 1852 John Esdaile Widdicomb in his military uniform in the foreground.