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The protrait may be the companion to Johnson's portrait of the 1st Earl of Sussex, and represent his first wife, Frances, widow of Sir John Leveson (d. 1615), daughter and heir of Sir Thomas Sondes of Throwley, Kent. She was living in 1634, but was dead by 1640 when Sussex remarried. The couple had no children.

The Palladian frame is English, c. 1735, carved and gilded, of a narrow section with egg and dart ornament, surmounted by a shell, volutes and acanthus leaves. It is one of a group of matching frames around pictures with a Cardigan family provenance. This was amongst a group of paintings lent in 1730 by George, 3rd Earl of Cardigan to his son, Lord Brudenell (4th Earl of Cardigan in 1732 and afterwards Duke of Montagu) in the year of his marriage to Lady Mary Montagu. The picture would have been framed to correspond with the palladian interior of their London House in Dover Street. Documents in the Boughton House archive indicate that building work was proceeding during the 1730s to the designs of Henry Flitcroft. Richard Lawrence, carver and gilder, may have been reponsible for these frames. He is recorded in the household accounts for carving architectural room mouldings and picture frames.

PROVENANCE George, 3rd Earl of Cardigan, 1730; lent by him to his son, subsequently 4th Earl of Cardigan and Duke of Montagu, and thence by descent.