Sir George Savile (1726-1784) was a well-known independent Whig politician who never held office. The image is based on a death mask. In her London diary of 1786 Sophie von la Roche recorded a visit to the studio of the sculptor Joseph Nollekens. She noted, '… Mr Nollekens had over six bust portraits of the estimable Savile to complete for his friends, two of whom sent for him with great dispatch on the death of Savile, so as to have an immediate cast of his features. He showed us this mould, from which it is evident that the good man had passed beyond all feeling … the veins were still pulsing with the last beats of his charitable heart; pensiveness and spiritual suffering still left their mark on the tender, manly features'.

Joseph Nollekens (1737–1823) was a prolific sculptor of portrait busts and operated a thriving workshop in London. Many of his busts are in the classical style with loose drapery, as seen here. He spent eight years in Rome from 1762 to 1770, where he worked with Bartolomeo Cavaceppi restoring and copying antique marbles. One of these copies, his group of Castor and Pollux, is in the Museum's collection (Museum no. A.59-1940).