Wilson Fox (1831–1887) is best known for his research on the lungs, and his discovery that tuberculosis was different from ordinary lung inflammation. He trained as a doctor at schools in Edinburgh, Paris, Vienna and Berlin, and worked for a while as physician to the Royal Staffordshire Infirmary. He eventually settled in London, and became professor of pathological anatomy at University College, and physician to University College Hospital. Fox had a consulting practice, and he also taught and carried out his own research.

This portrait was painted in 1889, two years after Fox’s death. It was painted by Val Prinsep (1838–1904), a British painter of the Pre-Raphaelite school. A copy of this portrait, commissioned for the subscribers to the Wilson Fox Memorial, was painted in the same year and presented to the Royal College of Physicians in 1889.