A version of the present lot, signed and dated 1826, was sold at Christie's, London, November 11, 1983, lot 177; and a second, signed and dated 1827, is in the National Portrait Gallery, London. It is possible, therefore, that the present picture is one of the 'two heads' mentioned in the Northcote Register of 1823 (see R. Walker, Regency Portraits, The National Portrait Gallery, 1985, I, p. 373)

A 19th (?) century label on the reverse reads, 'Head of Northcote/The Painter by Himself.'