Portrait of James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde (1610-1688), half-length, in armour with a red sash, holding a baton, with a plumed helmet, in a wooded landscape

The sitter was the eldest son of Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles (d. 1619) and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Poyntz, of Acton. He succeeded his grandfather as 12th Earl of Ormonde in 1632 and was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1643, an office which he held, with consummate skill and loyalty, for most of the reigns of Kings Charles I and II. He was created 1st Duke of Ormonde in 1661.