It was created during Gainsborough's fifteen-year stay in
Bath, Somerset. Some art historians have identified its subject as Elizabeth,
Duchess of Beaufort, daughter of
Edward Boscawen. The Hermitage Museum also identified the woman as the Duchess of Beaufort. The painting is a bust length portrait. It depicts the woman wearing a white dress and a light-colored hat with ostrich feathers and light blue ribbons on her powdered hair, piled high, as she is turned slightly to the left. She wears in her neck a black ribbon tied in a bow under her chin, from which hangs a gold cross. Her right hand, holding a bracelet adorned with a cameo, holds a light blue scarf across her chest. ==References==