In the centre of the picture sits an old man poring over a large book propped against a stack of others on the table before him. He wears a cap and a yellowing dressing gown, red stockings and dark slippers. He has a small moustache and a goatee beard. He sits in a high backed chair in front of an open window on the right of the picture; the sun streams onto his back. Over the chair is slung a sword or lance. The room is cluttered and dirty looking. On the left a large thin scraggy dog reaches up with its front paws onto the table. In the gloom in the background on the left is a bookcase, a hunting horn and a bed warmer. Don Quixote is the character from the novel by Cervantes. 'This painting shares with 'Quentin Durward at Liège' (Cat.138) [NCM 1974-76] a number of sources, such as David Wilkie.