Aberdeen-born James Gibbs was sent to Rome in 1703 to study for the priesthood. However, he abandoned his clerical career and became a pupil of the leading Italian baroque architect, Carlo Fontana. When he returned to Britain in 1709, his training made him highly sought after. He designed the churches of St-Mary-le-Strand and St Martin-in-the-Fields in London and the Radcliffe Library in Oxford, which can be seen, still with some scaffolding, in the background of this portrait.