Comparisons have been drawn between this work and George Hayter's The House of Commons, 1833 which were both large-scale depictions related to the recent Reform Act.

[4] When the Birmingham painting fell through due to the failure of the subscribers to pay the pledged funds Haydon abandoned it at the stage of an oil sketch and turned his full attention to the Grey commission.

[5] Haydon attended the actual dinner in July 1832 and drew up an initial sketch as he began working on the composition of the final painting before moving on to filling it out with individual portraits.

this process lasted from September 1832 to early 1834..[6] One of the hardest figures to pin down was the Lord Chancellor Henry Brougham although he eventually sat for the painting.

Grey himself was distracted by the international situation due to the Belgian Revolution and subsequent Siege of Antwerp, making it difficult to schedule sittings.