The present miniature is considered to have been influenced by the Venetian artists to whom Oliver would have been exposed during his trip to Venice during the 1590s and further shows the artist’s development from the Dutch influence inspired by the engravings of Hendrik Goltzius (as seen in lot 107). Another notable shift in Oliver’s approach to miniature painter is the powerful observation of the character of his sitters. For a similar example of this style, see exhibition catalogue Nicholas Hilliard & Isaac Oliver, London, 1971, no. 137, now in the Portland Collection at Welbeck Abbey.
The earlier identification of the sitter as Sir Henry Fanshawe cannot be substantiated as Sir Henry Fanshawe was born in 1569 and would therefore have been 38 or 39 in 1608, rather than 43 as identified in the inscription. No other members of the Fanshawe family were born in 1563 or 1564. The identity of the sitter remains uncertain.