It depicts the Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher Thomas Carlyle in a composition similar to that of Whistler's 1871 Arrangement in Grey and Black No.

[1] In the painting Whistler reverted to the planar composition of Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Artist's Mother, and included the robe that created a broader shape, reminiscent of the dress from the earlier picture.

[5] The composition with a profile figure painted in a range of dark tones is shared with the Portrait of the Artist's Mother, as is the over-riding concern with aesthetic arrangement, for all the two works' psychological penetration.

[5] Several witnesses recounted Carlyle's stillness juxtaposed with Whistler's frenetic working movements, with the artist Hugh Cameron recalling "It was the funniest thing I ever saw.

[5] While sitting for Whistler, Carlyle wrote in his journal "More and more dreary, barren, base, and ugly seem to me all the aspects of this poor diminishing quack world.