The couple are depicted in the bedroom of their flat in Notting Hill Gate, near life size, either side of a tall window with a pair of shutters, one open to reveal the balustrade of a balcony looking out over trees to a Georgian façade beyond.

The room is relatively bare and uncluttered, in simple 1960s minimalist style, with a telephone and a lamp on the floor to the right of Clark, and a plain table to the left of Birtwell bearing a vase of lilies and a yellow book.

Hockney drew on both the Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck and A Rake's Progress by William Hogarth in the symbolism and composition of the painting.

Hockney's portrait, with the bride standing and the groom sitting, also reverses the convention of traditional wedding portraiture, such as Mr and Mrs Andrews by Thomas Gainsborough.

In this case, Clark continued to have affairs with men and women, which contributed to the breakdown of the marriage in 1974: Hockney's depiction of the couple together but separated foreshadows their divorce.