Rembrandt's 'Beaded Man in a Cap' (National Gallery, London) signed and dated 1657, belonged to the Dukes of Argyll in the eighteenth century. In 1767 Gainsborough painted a famous full length of the 4th Duke of Argyll (Scottish National Portrait Gallery) which presumably gave him an opportunity to study Rembrandt's painting and produce this excellent and very faithful copy, probably painted 1767-70. For such an un-academic artist, Gainsborough was surprisingly fond of copying the old masters, with an especial preference for the great painterly tradition, which passed from Venice to the Low Countries. He copied Titian, Rubens and Van Dyck, as well as this work after Rembrandt.