In this delightfully intimate work, the artist’s son Bartholomew is shown at around five years of age, with a full head of curly hair. He is depicted in semi-profile, turned to the right, and is wearing a white shirt and a brown jerkin. Bartholomew (born 1656) and his younger brother Charles (born 1660) helped their mother Mary Beale in her successful art practice. Both boys worked in their mother’s studio, assisting her with the painting of draperies and other accessories. Bartholomew entered Clare College, Cambridge, in 1680 and practised as a physician in Coventry following his graduation. Charles, meanwhile, developed a successful practice of his own as a painter of miniature portraits in watercolour.