The posed derives from the artist’s portrait of Queen Maria Carolina of Naples (fig. 34 in Kimbell catalogue) and thus indirectly from the portrait of the Duchesse d’Orleans (Kimbell cat.no. 28). The autumnal landscape backdrop has its prototype in the portrait of Countess Potocka (Kimbell cat. No. 34), but it also reflects the mountainous scenery along the river Danube where Vigée Le Brun painted a number of landscapes. Alternatively, it has been suggested that this landscape was derived from studies made by the artist in Tivoli two years previously, ca. 1790-91.