Henry Wriothesley was a courtier, a patron of poets and dramatists, and a supporter of exploration and colonization. This portrait commemorates his imprisonment in the Tower from February 1600/1 to April 1603 for his part in the Earl of Essexs' rebellion and was probably painted between his release and creation as Knight of the Garter in June 1603. The attribution to de Critz, James I's Serjeant Painter, is tentative.

PROVENANCE by descent from the sitter to Elizabeth Wriothesley, daughter of the 4th. Earl of Southampton, who married as her second husband, Ralph, later 1st. Duke of Montagu.

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