The portrait shows a man and a family at a pivotal moment. Despite his achievements, Edward himself might have begun to see that all he had achieved was beginning to slip away.
Differences between Edward and James I meant that he no longer had the King's patronage. His son Robert had failed to secure a parliamentary seat in contested elections that further eroded his local political authority. The cost of maintaining a lavish London home at which he could entertain the King and the ambitious building of Montacute meant that he was already £12,000 in debt.
Aged over 50, with little chance to build new political networks, does Edward sense that the future of his family is no longer as assured as he once thought it was?