The painting is first listed as a ‘head of lady with a star, and an ermined mantle’ in the 1816 inventory of Carlton House; although by 1819 it was titled Catherine II of Russia. However, judging by the resemblance to an engraving of 1756 after Rosina Matthieu (1744-95), it may depict her mother, Johanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp (1712-60) (RCIN 610507).

The sitter is dressed in the grand habit, worn as formal court attire across much of Europe in the eighteenth century; together with the star and sash of the Order of St Catherine. Johanna Elisabeth received the order on 10 February 1744 from the Empress Elizabeth of Russia.

The portrait is influenced by contemporary European artists such as Antoine Pesne and Georg Christoph Grooth. It may have been acquired by the Prince of Wales, later George IV, prior to the arrival of Alexander I and his entourage in London in June 1814.