This portrait bears many similarities to another of the artist's paintings: Anne, Countess of Carlisle, shown grief-stricken by the loss of her husband and two children. Lady Thornhill shares the same let-down hair and loosened garments, but the picture was painted too late to mark the death of her husband in 1656. Instead it seems possible that it was painted to mark her appointment as Dresser to the Queen, a role which she held from 1666 until 1692 when the Queen left England. Lady Thornhill was reportedly badly-treated by her husband, but not so much that she would not wish to be buried next to her 'late beloved husband.' John Michael Wright was a popular portraitist amongst Catholic families. The sitter's pose of resting head on hand became popular after Sir Peter Lely's use of it in his portrait of Barbara Villiers of about 1662.