The sitter is Chaim Kossoff, Leon Kossoff's brother and the eldest of Rachel and Wolf Kossoff's seven children. He ran his own bakery business and first appears in Kossoff's paintings in 1975, seated at a table with other family members. He began sitting regularly for his brother in 1982.

Twenty-four portraits (including this one) followed, including 'Portrait of Chaim no. 1', which directly preceded this painting and is held in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.