Three-quarter-length portrait of Aaron Klug in the artist’s studio with structural models of a virus and chromosomes. Klug wears spectacles and is indicating towards a model held in his left hand with a scalpel (?) held in the right. He wears a blue jumper over dark trousers, a lighter blue short and square-patterned blue tie.

The model being held is a spherical surface divided into 60 triangular facets, the basis for the protein shell model of virus R17 shown on a white plinth to the sitter’s left (viewer’s right). On the left of the painting are chromatin models including (in the acrylic case) a model nucleosome. Behind this is a model chain of nucleosomes and an atomic model of transfer RNA (tRNA).

The background lighting effect is from a skylight in the artist’s studio.