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La bohème is a four-act opera composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème (1851) by Henri Murger. The story is set in Paris around 1830 and shows the Bohemian lifestyle of a poor seamstress and her artist friends, with romantic entanglements conflicting with the ever-present need of money to survive. In Act II, set in the Quartier Latin, Musetta, a singer, pushes the bill for the group of friends' extravagant meal onto her elderly patron (who tries and fails to have a romantic date with her), after resparking her tulmultuous relationship with Marcello. This set design for Act II of La bohème was created by the German artist Adolfo Hohenstein for the world premiere in Turin on 1 February 1896. Produced with India ink and tempera on paper, the illustration is in the archives of the Italian music publishing house Casa Ricordi.Set design credit: Adolfo Hohenstein; restored by Adam Cuerden