Francis Chantrey was born at Jordanthorpe, Derbyshire, on 7 April 1781, the son of a carpenter and farmer. He became apprenticed to a carver called Ramsay for seven years, and while with him met J. Raphael Smith, the engraver, and began to show a talent for drawing. His reputation grew and by 1802 he was able to establish himself as an artist, moving to London later that year, to study at the Royal Academy, and where he stayed for the next few years, although he continued to paint portraits on his frequent return visits to Sheffield. In 1805 he began to sculp in marble, and was commissioned to do a series of busts of admirals for Greenwich Hospital. In 1808 he was asked to do a statue of King George III for the Guildhall, and the following year he exhibited six busts at the Royal Academy, including those of Benjamin West, then President, J. Raphael Smith and Sir Francis Burdett. His great success with these brought him many commissions, and the next few years saw him rising quickly to the top of his profession, sculpting many of the distinguished men of his tim, and asked to do the full length statues of King George IV for Trafalgar Square and the Duke of Wellington for the Royal Exchange. He was knighted by King William IV in 1835. He died on 25 November 1841, and was buried at Jordanburghe in a tomb designed by himself. In his will he left the interest from his property to the Royal Academy to found the Chantrey Bequest, which was to establish a national collection of works by artists of any nationality who were living in Great Britain at the time of the execution of the work.

In 1807 he married his cousin, Miss Wale, but had no children. This painting dates from 1818, the year in which he was elected a full member of the Royal Academy.