Benjamin Hoadly (1706–57), son of the Bishop of Winchester, was a medical doctor and dramatist. His popular comedy The suspicious husband was first performed at Covent Garden in 1747 with David Garrick in the lead role. He was a close friend of Hogarth whom he assisted in writing his quasi-scientific treatise The analysis of beauty (1753). The sobriety of this portrait possibly reflects Hoadly’s appointment in 1742 as physician to the Royal household.