Richard Warren (1731–1797) was the most sought-after society doctor of his time. His popularity was the result of his great talent rather than his connections, as he went to Cambridge University without any financial support and suffered prejudice as the son of a Tory. Warren was appointed physician to George III in 1762, who he attended during his episodes of insanity. Warren’s annual income of £9,000 exceeded anything previously earned from the practice of medicine in Britain. He apparently bequeathed £150,000 to his family – equivalent to £11 million today. The portrait was originally thought to be by the British portrait and landscape painter Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788), after a letter dated c.1874 by Warren’s grandson claimed that it is ‘a copy by Gainsborough from an original portrait by him, and was painted after grandfather’s death’.