Portrait of Mrs Thomas Prowse, half-length, in a blue and gold dress trimmed with lace and ribbons

Elizabeth Prowse, the daughter of John Sharp of Grafton Park, Northamptonshire, married on 31 March 1731 Thomas Prowse (1708-1767), a parliamentarian and amateur architect.

It is thought Mrs Prowse sat to Gainsborough in the early 1760s. A number of versions of her portrait are known to exist, with pendant portraits of Thomas Prowse. A portrait of Elizabeth Prowse was bought by the Leeds City Art Gallery in 1946, and is on loan at Temple Newsam House, Leeds.