A portrait drawing of Sir Thomas Elyot, on pink prepared paper. He is shown bust length, facing three-quarters to the left. He wears a hat and a crucifix on a chain around his shoulders. The drawing is largely in black and coloured chalks, with additions of black ink and white heightening in his face.

An eighteenth-century inscription (a copy of a mid-sixteenth-century original) at top left identifies the sitter as 'Th: Eliott Knight'.

Sir Thomas Elyot was a writer and diplomat, and was well respected by his contemporaries in both fields. His most famous publication was The Boke named the Governour, a book of political instruction inspired by classical literature, which was first issued in 1531 and was reprinted a number of times. He also published a comprehensive Latin-English dictionary, and a popular guide to medicine. His work as ambassador to Charles V took him to the continent, where he visited the city of Nuremberg four years after Dürer’s death.

This is a companion to Holbein's portrait of Margaret, Lady Elyot (RCIN 912204).The unusual orientation of the sitters, with Margaret on the left (traditionally the placement for the male of a pair), has been remarked on and Susan Foister has proposed (in Holbein and England, 2004, p. 227) that Lady Elyot's portrait was made first, before Sir Thomas's was added to form a pair.

The drawings of Sir Thomas and Lady Elyot probably date from around 1535 since that of Lady Elyot, and possibly also that of Sir Thomas, are on the same paper used by Holbein for his drawing of Sir Nicholas Poyntz (RCIN 912234). By this time, the couple were largely living in Cambridgeshire.