Viscount Goderich
The figure in the painting has been identified as the Viscount Goderich, who briefly served as British Prime Minister between August 1827 and January 1828. His brief period in office was an unhappy one, and the painting shows pleasures of rural leisure and retirement, represented by the game animals and the open garden door; this is contrasted with the timely apparatus of state represented by the clock and the stairs showing the concept of politics as a 'higher calling'.