Portraits play an important but not exclusive role in the work of Tom Wood. He has spent most of his life in West Yorkshire and works from a studio in a converted mill in Halifax. In discussing his approach to portraiture, Wood has said: "... my great hero has always been Holbein and the North European tradition of Van Eyck, Campin, Memlinc and Van der Veyden. That stiffness and Flemish formality along with a kind of Gothic abruptness of forms appeals far more than a Southern Renaissance liquidity." In this portrait, Tom Wood has introduced elements that relate to the life and work of Sir Shridath Ramphal. The Chancellor's robes are laid to one side. This might hint at his departure from this role but they also offer a balance to the Commonwealth Office behind him and introduce him as a man who has several strong roles and interests which he holds in balance.