In 1944, Power was commissioned by John L. Burke — solicitor, art collector, and close friend of Éamon de Valera — to make a portrait of the Taoiseach and President-elect. The sittings took place at the Department of External Affairs. Burke had a bronze cast made for himself; de Valera received a plaster version.
Éamon de Valera (1882–1975) was one of the dominant figures of twentieth-century Irish political life: survivor of the 1916 Rising, founder of Fianna Fáil, Taoiseach, and later President of Ireland. Power’s portrait is a late-career work, made a year before his death in 1945.