Captain Thomas Lee, circa 1594, when he was 43 years-old, by the Flemish artist Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger. It was probably commissioned by his cousin, Henry Lee of Ditchley. The subject is shown in the regalia of a captain of the Queen's Kern (a hybrid combination of English & Irish dress), posing with legs and feet bare, and armed with shield, spear and pistol. Lee served in Ireland continuously from 1575 to 1599.

Though it has been suggested that his costume is fanciful rather than realistic, it is on record that some Englishmen genuinely did adopt Irish dress. John Vowell, for instance, records in 1586 of George Bourchier (Sir John Perrott's military adviser) that 'if he served upon foot he was apparelled in the manner of a kern ... and so light of foot as no kern swifter'. Note the characteristically Irish way he holds his javelin, with one finger through a leather loop which enabled it be twisted and spun in the hand.