The present picture is based on the full-length autograph version at Woburn Abbey, painted upon Essex's return from Cadiz in 1596. Robert Devereux (1566-1601) became favourite to Queen Elizabeth I soon after destinguishing himself at the battle of Zutphen 1586. Devereux's career is a list of successes as a poet, courtier, diplomat and soldier. Successive posts include Privy Councillor (1593), Earl Marshal (1597), Chancellor of Cambridge University (1598), all culminating in his appointment as Lieutenant and Governor-General of Ireland (1599). His treatment of the Irish, as well as his own men, was at best harsh and his policy making unwise. Upon his return to England in 1600, he fell from grace, impeached as a traitor for being a part-instigator in a plot to remove the Queen's advisors. Despite a spirited defence by Francis Bacon Devereux was sentenced to death and executed in February 1601.