Portrait of George Griffin Stonestreet, three-quarter-length, seated, in a brown coat and white cravat, a red brocade curtain behind

The sitter was born George Griffin (c.1744/5), adopting his mother's maiden name of Stonestreet in 1794. He was elected first director of the Phoenix Fire Office and Pelican Life Insurance in 1786, and wrote a polemical pamphlet on insurance, The Portentous Globe, in 1800.

A minute from the Phoenix Directors' Board on 18 December 1799 expressed gratitude to Stonestreet for his services, recording the wish that he sit for a portrait, and that it be 'placed in a conspicuous part of the Premises.' The commission was given to Lawrence and the resulting portrait was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1802, the year of Stonestreet's death.

By the time Lawrence received his commission to paint Stonestreet's likeness, he had already established a reputation as one of the most precocious artists of his generation. In 1792 he had been made Painter in Ordinary to the King in succession to Reynolds, despite the rivalry of John Hoppner and Sir William Beechey. His portraits from the turn of the century were marked with a confidence and vivacity that reflected his increasing stature as an artist. He was elected President of the Royal Academy in 1820.