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This intimate sketch of a young officer is thought to represent Lieutenant Colonel Coote Martin. The size and manner of its execution might indicate that it was a gift to his wife, whom Masquerier also painted in 1811. The downward gaze would be extremely unusual in a more formal portrait, and it seems improbable that this sketch was executed as a preliminary to a further work. The painting may be intentionally unfinished, and the buff collar is in fact the priming visible before the application of the dark blue of the Grenadier Guards facings.

A larger and more formal portrait had also been painted by the artist, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1815 (Le Breton Collection) showing the sitter (described as the son of the late Colonel Coote Martin) in the uniform of an officer in the Grenadier Guards.