Portrait of Sir Philip Perceval (1656-1680), 2nd Bt., half-length, in a white shirt, red cravat and buff embroidered gown

Sir Philip Perceval was born on 12 January 1656, the eldest son of Sir John Perceval, 1st Baronet, and his wife, Catherine, daughter of Robert Southwell of Kinsale. On 11 September 1680 he passed away aged only twenty-four, and the title passed to his brother, John. His nephew, John Perceval, 1st Earl of Egmont (1683-1748), who succeeded as 5th Baronet, helped James Oglethorpe found the colony of Georgia.

Sir Philip embarked on a European tour in 1676, and it was probably in Rome that he met the accomplished portraitist Jacob Ferdinand Voet, who had left his birthplace of Antwerp to study with Carlo Maratta, then one of the city's leading painters. A payment is recorded for two portraits of Sir Philip on 25 April 1678: 'Signor Ferdinando, the painter, for making two pictures of Sir Philip, one in great, one in little' (see Historical Manuscripts Commission, Report on the manuscripts of the Earl of Egmont, II, London, 1909, p. 69); the present portrait may be the smaller of these two pictures. A mezzotint of Sir Philip, bust-length and in a similar pose but wearing a lace cravat, was made by John Faber Junior in 1744 (National Portrait Gallery, London, inv. no. D30026).