A portrait drawing of Anthony Caro (1924-2013),  bust length, bearded, wearing a jacket and tie.

Sir Anthony Caro was one of the greatest British sculptors of the twentieth century. His work uses found assemblages, often in metal, and explores the possibilities of abstraction in three dimensions. He was appointed to the Order of Merit in 2000, the first artist to be awarded the honour since Henry Moore, to whom he had worked as assistant from 1951-3. This portrait is by the British abstract painter Sheila Girling. Caro and Girling met at the Royal Academy Schools and married in 1949. Girling made many drawings of Caro throughout their lives together.

The Order of Merit was founded on the Coronation of King Edward VII in 1902 and recognises exceptional contributions to the arts and sciences. The Order is restricted to 24 members, each of whom is personally appointed by Her Majesty The Queen. In 1907, King Edward VII initiated a tradition of commissioning portraits of members of the Order of Merit by the artist William Strang, whose coloured chalk drawings on buff or pale pink paper consciously echo the Holbein drawings in the Royal Collection. The commissions fell into abeyance with the outbreak of the First World War, but the tradition was revived by The Queen in 1987. Portraits of newly appointed members of the Order of Merit continue to be commissioned and added to the Royal Collection.