The painting was used as a frontispiece to the signed limited edition 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service', first published by Jonathan Cape in 1963, and has subsequently hung in the National Portrait Gallery. It is thought to be the only formal portrait of the author painter by Villiers, a friend of Fleming's. It is on long term loan from the collection of Brad Frank.

Amherst Villiers, 1900-1991

Charles Amherst Villiers was born in London, on December 9, 1900. He is more commonly referred to as Amherst Villiers. He was an aristocratic family-born English automotive, aeronautical, and astronautical expert as well as a portrait painter. He attended Gonville and Caius College in Cambridge and Oundle School, but he withdrew before earning a degree. At both places, his technical endeavours expanded. He played a significant role in pre-war British motorsports starting at this time and continuing for many years as Mays and Villiers collaborated to build legendary racing and sprint cars.  To focus on rocketry, he relocated to the US. 

 He studied painting in Florence under portrait painter Pietro Annigoni  and painted portraits of Pope Paul II. He became a portrait painter in New York, and his portraits of his friends Ian Fleming and Graham Hill hang in the National Portrait Gallery in London. On December 12, 1991, he passed away.