Many royal portraits were made without the input or knowledge of the sitter. Unlike state portraits or formal commissions, popular portraits can reflect how the wider public saw a monarch.

This portrait presents the head of Charles II (r.1660–85), surrounded by crowns, within a tree. It celebrates the famous escape of Charles II in Boscobel Wood, when the future King hid from Parliamentarian soldiers in the branches of a great tree after his defeat at the Battle of Worcester in 1651. Following the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, the Royal Oak became a popular symbol of patriotism.