Portrait of Mrs. Henry Pelham, seated three-quarter-length, in a white dress and a white hat, before a table with books

Jean-Laurent Mosnier trained as a painter of miniatures at the Académie de Saint-Luc. In 1766, he was appointed peintre de la reine to Marie-Antoinette, specializing in life-sized portraits. In 1790 the Revolution forced him to flee France for London, where he established himself and met with immediate success. He exhibited nine works at the Royal Academy of 1791, including portraits of several famous figures. His work of the following year, which includes the present painting and his portrait of Lady Drummond and her son Henry, shows the increasing influence of his English contemporaries, particularly Copley, Northcote and Hoppner. He exhibited thirty-two works at the Royal Academy from 1791 until 1796, before leaving England for Hamburg. In 1802 he settled in Saint Petersburg where he became a court painter to the Tsar and Professor at the Academy.

The sitter is Catherine, daughter of Thomas Cobbe, M.P. (1738-1814) for Swords in several parliaments and sheriff of the county of Dublin in 1758, and his wife Lady Elizabeth Beresford (daughter of Marcus 1st Earl of Tyrone). She married the Hon. Henry Pelham (d.1797), second son of Thomas Pelham, 1st Earl of Chichester (1728-1805) in 1788.