Former inscriptions on the back of the painting by Gladys Holman Hunt, state that it makes particular reference to the work of Hogarth who Hunt greatly admired, and whom he believed he ressembled.
Other self-portraits by Holman Hunt are in the Ashmolean Musuem, Oxford; Uffizi, Florence and a private collection.
Purchased to commemorate the services to the City of Birmingham of Alderman W. Byng Kenrick, 1961.