Italian opera was one of the great theatrical crazes in 18th century London and this image of a scene from George Frederic Handel's opera Flavio, Re De Longobardi by an anonymous artist shows two of the most famous Italian castrati, Gaetano Berenstadt (1687-1734) and Francesco Bernadi (1686-1758), better known by his stage name Senesino, on stage with another Italian operatic superstar, the soprano Francesca Cuzzoni (1696-1798), the train of whose dress is held by a young boy.

Flavio opened at the King's Theatre in London's Haymarket on 14th May1723 and despite the usual popularity of Handel's operas only ran for eight performances. Set in the Dark Ages the plot centred around the cynical and manipulative King Flavio played by Berenstadt, whose actions threatened to wreak havoc to those around him. The supposed setting of a play or opera made little difference to 18th century stage costume, as can be seen from Cuzzoni's fashionable contemporary dress as Emilia and the classically-inspired breastplates and helmet of Berenstadt and Senesino as Flavio and Guido.

The inscripton below the image mistakenly credits Berendtadt as another popular Italian singer, Farinelli, and Cuzzoni as Cassoni. The date 1726 may refer to a later edition of the print, but we know from the referencing of it in Hogarth's 1724 satire The Bad Taste of the Town, or Masquerades and Operas that it was originally printed in 1723