Charles Peale Polk, the nephew of the celebrated Philadelphia artist Charles Wilson Peale, was trained by his uncle with whom he lived after his mother died in 1774. In 1785 Polk became a professional portrait painter in Baltimore. His first known advertisement touted that he had just "finished his studies under the celebrated Mr. Peale of Philadelphia." A 1806 Richmond newspaper advertisement read: "PROFILE LIKENESS, Engraved in Gold." This portrait seems to be one of those mentioned in the 1806 advertisement.