 The Coral Finder was sold at exhibition to piano manufacturer Thomas Tomkinson for £ 30 ( about £ 2 @,@ 200 in 2016 terms ) . Sir Francis Freeling had admired The Coral Finder at its exhibition , and on learning that it had already been sold he commissioned Etty to paint a similar picture on a more ambitious scale , for a fee of 200 guineas ( about £ 15 @,@ 100 in 2016 terms ) . Etty had for some time been musing on the possibility of a painting of Cleopatra , and took the opportunity provided by Freeling to paint a picture of her based loosely on the composition of The Coral Finder . 
