Jean Petitot's career as an enamellist spanned seven decades of the seventeenth-century and took him from his birthplace in Geneva to the courts of Charles I in London and of Louis XIV in Paris. He is widely regarded as the most important enamellist of his period on account of the incomparable quality and prolific nature of his work.

Petitot achieved notable success at the French court where he had sought refuge after the outbreak of the Civil War in England in 1643 or 1644. He had first developed his skills in enamelling at the court of Charles I in 1637 and the highly accomplished portraits which produced, with their rich colouring, and smoothly blended brushstrokes, were soon much in demand at the French court where he was swiftly appointed Court Painter in Enamel to Louis XIV. He received extensive patronage from the king and his circle at court until the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685) when, as a Protestant, he was forced to return to Geneva.

The identification of the sitter is traditional, but is not fully confirmed by the accepted portraits of the Marquise de Sévigné , such as the pastel by Robert Nanteuil in the Musée Carnavalet, Paris. Marie de Rabutin, dame de Chantal, married in 1644 Henri, marquis de Sévigné. She was a leading figure in French literary circles and her celebrated letters to her daughter Françoise, comtesse de Grignan provide a vivid insight into court life during the reign of Louis XIV.