The subject of this painting is the 1807 bust of William Pitt the Younger executed after his death mask by Joseph Nollekens. The bust was so popular that Nollekens repeated it several times, one version can be seen in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. no. 1974.209). Interestingly, the artist has chosen to include an inscription taken from Alexander Pope's Moral Essays (also known as the Epistles to Several Persons), specifically his 1734 Epistle to Cobham. This work, addressed to Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham, looked to the 'Knowledge and Characters of Men'. The extended quotation reads as follows, 'And you, brave Cobham, to the latest breath, / Shall feel your ruling passion strong in death; / Such in those moments, as in all the past, / Oh, Save my Country, Heaven! shall be your last.' Though the words had been addressed to another, that are equally apt for Pitt, who served as Prime Minster from 1783-1801 and 1804 until his death. His final years were marked by the relentless tide of Napoleonic victories, the strain of which can be seen carved into Nollekens' depiction of the great Parliamentarian.