This painting was acquired for only six guineas with other unfinished works from the studio sale in 1797 of Gainsborough's nephew and assistant, Gainsborough Dupont. It is a sketch for a full length portrait (now in the National Gallery of Ireland) painted during Quin's retirement in Bath and exhibited at the Society of Artists in 1763. Quin was one of the leading actors of the generation before David Garrick, though the two were friendly rivals on the London stage for at least a decade. Quin excelled in larger-than-life stage presence and powerful declamation: Garrick was considered the better Richard III, Quin the better Falstaff. Smollett's 'Humphrey Clinker' of 1771 contains an extended literary portrait of Quin during his Bath retirement as a sort of real life Falstaff. Gainsborough's sketch shows similarly the lively bonhomie of a 'big personality'.