[1] Mary Hill, from Honiley, Warwickshire was the wife of Sir William Killigrew, a courtier to King Charles I and later a noted playwright.

At the time of the English Civil War (1642-1651), the couple was reduced to poverty and forced to flee the country, living separately for several years.

The Tate Gallery in London acquired van Dyck's Portrait of Sir William Killigrew, also dated 1638, in the year 2002.

The roses which the subject is touching allude to a happy marriage, and the bare rocks on the background symbolize constancy.

[1] Another portrait of Mary Hill, Lady Killigrew, "after Sir Anthony Van Dyck" is located in the collection of Belton House, Lincolnshire (now part of the National Trust).