Portrait of Thomas Wriothesley, 4th Earl of Southampton (1607-1667), full-length, seated, wearing the star and ribbon of the Order of the Garter, holding his staff of office

Thomas Wriothesley was the second, and only surviving son, of Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton and Elizabeth Vernon. Firstly a pupil of Eton College and then St John's College, Cambridge, the Earl subsequently travelled extensively in France and the Low Countries from the late 1620s to the early 1630s. In the growing constitutional crisis of the 1630s, Wriothesley found himself initially opposed to the policies of King Charles I and Lord Strafford, siding instead with Lord Essex, his cousin. However he soon became one of the king's most loyal supporters and advisors, remaining by him with few intervals until his death. His loyalty to the monarchy was honoured following the restoration in 1660, when he was made a Knight of the Garter, appointed to the Privy Council, and to the office of Lord High Treasurer, a post he held until his death in 1667. On his death, Pepys wrote: 'There is a good man gone', calling him 'a very ready man, and certainly a brave servant of the king.'

The present work derives from the double portrait of Southampton with his third wife, Lady Frances Seymour, at Welbeck Abbey, painted after he was appointed Lord Treasurer.