By showing John Proctor as if he were a sporting gentleman on a country estate, Lambert created a deliberate artifice, as Proctor was not a member of the landed gentry but a city barrister.

Miss Alison Preston and John Proctor on Mearbeck Moorcan be read in two ways. First as a portrait of John Proctor surrounded by his possessions, including his niece. Secondly, as an image of a ‘New Woman’. Miss Alison Preston is a woman in her own right, standing at the apex of the composition, wearing a modern riding habit and confidently holding the reins of the horse.