Peter Shaw (1694–1763) was an eminent physician who practised medicine first in Scarborough and then, without a licence, in London. He was a prolific author, producing abridged editions of Robert Boyle and Francis Bacon’s writings and advanced the study of chemistry in England by translating the works of the famous chemists Stahl and Boerhaave. He built up a popular practice, and was appointed physician-in-ordinary to George II, who he accompanied on his journeys to Hanover.

The portrait was given to the Royal College of Physicians by Mrs Pelham Warren, wife of the popular physician, whose father-in-law Dr Richard Warren, physician to George III, married Peter Shaw’s daughter Elizabeth. It was painted around 1740–1750, in a manner very close to that of William Hoare, the English painter and printmaker, and co-founder of the Royal Academy of Art.