A portrait drawing of William Parr (1513-1571) on pink prepared paper. He is shown half length, facing three0quarters left, wearing a hat decorated with bades and a feather, a gown with a fur collar and a medallion. To the left of the sheet are studies of jewellery and a scale, the purpose of which is unclear. The drawing is largely worked in black ink over an initial sketch in black chalk, with the facial features modelled in coloured chalks and touches of white to enliven the eyes.

The drawing is inscribed with colour and textile notes in Holbein's hand: wis felbet (white velvet), burpor felbet (purple velvet), wis satin (white satin), w (for weiss, white) five times, Gl (gold) twice. The scale is inscribed gros (size) and one of the pendant studies MORS (either referring to death, or to the sitter's motto 'Amour Avecque Loiaulte', or 'Love with Loyalty')  An eighteenth-century inscription (a copy of a mid-sixteenth-century original) at top left identifies the sitter as 'William Pa...Marquis o(f) Northam(p):ton'.

Aged eleven, William Parr entered the household of the King's illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy. He was knighted in 1538 and made Baron Parr in 1539; this portrait may have been made to mark one of those occasions. Parr was a lover of music and patron of the Bassano family of musicians from Venice. Parr's older sister Katherine became Henry's sixth wife in July 1543.  He was created Marquess of Northampton after Holbein's death.