Kerseboon was an artist born in German and trained in Holland who came to England in the 1680s; he is best known for this portrait, the definitive and much-repeated image of the famous scientist. Boyle was an Anglo-Irish nobleman, educated at Eton followed by a continental tour, who became part of the circle of scientists meeting during the Commonwealth and later becoming founder members of the Royal Society. He was a pioneer chemist, known today for the law which bears his name and states that the volume of an enclosed gas kept at a constant temperature is inversely related to the pressure it is subjected to. Boyle was persuaded to sit for his portrait by Sir Edmund King in 1689 an event referred to by Pepys in a letter of 30 August 1689 which also identifies the artist as 'Casaubon'. This is probably King's original as the initials 'EK' were legible on the back of the original canvas, before it was lined. This must therefore have been the model for the many copies. The scientist is shown seated at a covered table turning the pages of a book; he wears a dark scholarly cloak and a wig.