Henry Howard, 12th Earl of Suffolk and 5th Earl of Berkshire (1739-1779), was the eldest son of William Howard, styled Viscount Andover (bap. 1714, d. 1756), politician, and his wife, Mary née Finch (1717-1803). On 25 May 1764 he married Maria Trevor (1744-1767), the eldest daughter of Robert Hampden-Trevor, 1st Viscount Hampden. She died in childbirth on 8 February 1767. In 1777, he married his cousin Charlotte (1754-1828), the eldest daughter of his uncle Heneage Finch, 3rd Earl of Aylesford. Their two sons both died in infancy. In favour at court, Howard was a supporter of George Grenville's ministry, and spoke often on the subject of colonial rioters in America. On Grenville's death in 1770, he was appointed lord privy seal, and four months later, succeeded Lord Halifax as northern secretary. He had, however, suffered from gout from an early age and died on 7 March 1779, shortly before his fortieth birthday.
Another version of the present miniature, formerly in the collection of Leo R. Schidlof, is in the Museum Briner und Kern, Winterthur, Swizerland (see B. Hofstetter, Die Welt der Bildnisminiatur, Bern / Sulgen, 2008, p. 132, no. 18, illustrated in colour). It is also mentioned in L. R. Schidlof, The Miniature in Europe, Graz, II, p. 556 and 1007, illustrated IV, pl. 400, no. 817 and was exhibited Geneva, Musée d'art et d'histoire, Chefs-d'oeuvre de la miniature et de la gouache, 1956, no. 297 (sitter unidentified, lent by Leo R. Schidlof) and Albertina, Vienna, Meisterwerke der europäischen Miniaturmalerei von 1750 bis 1850, 1965, no. 297 (sitter unidentified, lent by Leo R. Schildlof). The earlier provenance of the two versions is somewhat uncertain. Either the present miniature, or the version in Winterthur, was in the collection of The Hon. Mrs Greville Howard and published in B. S. Long, British Miniaturists, 1929, no. 296.