This self-portrait is part of a 'matched' pair with the artist's portrait of Leighton (also in this exhibition) painted 20 years apart.

Society portraitist Richard Buckner, whose many clients included Queen Victoria, studied in Rome under Cassevari, and subsequently set up a studio there just by Bernini's Tritone Fountain. In the 1850s, Leighton, who was 18 years younger than Buckner, was a frequent visitor to Rome, where he made many friends amongst the local and expatriate artists. Buckner, who also had a studio in London, later helped Leighton who had been greatly discouraged when in 1859 his Sampson and Delilah was rejected by the British Institution, by using his influence to get it shown instead at the Society of British Artists.