Mosnier trained as a miniaturist and studied at the Academy of Saint Luke before being received into the Académie Royale in 1788 as a portrait painter. Known as the unofficial Painter to the Queen, Mosnier left France shortly after the outbreak of the Revolution and went first to London (where he regularly exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1791 to 1796) then to Hamburg, and finally to Saint Petersburg. His arrival in Russia in 1801 coincided with the departure, after a six year stay, of Elisabeth Vigeé Le Brun, and Mosnier replaced her as leading portrait painter to the Russian aristocracy.

The present portrait was painted during Mosnier's English sojourn and depicts Anne Catherine, Viscountess Feilding, daughter of Thomas Jelf Powys of Berwick House, Shropshire and mother of William, 7th Earl of Denbigh. An Amateur musician, Viscountess Feilding is depicted leaning against a harp and holding a sheet of music. The folio on the chair near her is inscribed 'Sonata per l'apra con accompagnamento di violino e di basso di A.L.' Presumably commissioned by the Viscountess or a member of her family, this painting is a three-quarter length autograph replica of Mosnier's full-length original (93 x 57 in.), which is signed and dated 1794 and was sold in the Feilding sale at Christie's, London, July, 1, 1938, lot 94.