This nineteenth-century miniature is based on a half-length oil portrait of the Earl of Southampton dated 1603 in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch. Like two nineteenth-century miniatures of Charles Howard, Baron Howard of Effingham (420032 and 420027; Royal Collection) it appears to have been intended to deceive on the basis of the faithfully reproduced calligraphic inscription around the upper edge of the miniature which is very close to Hilliard's work. Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, was the patron of William Shakespeare. He participated in the Earl of Essex's expeditions to Cadiz and the Azores but was imprisoned by James I in 1601 for taking part in Essex's rebellion. He was released by James I in 1603.