Henrietta Ross was the eldest daughter of Henrietta, née Tod (1745-1810) and John Parish (1742-1829), who moved from Scotland to Hamburg in the 1770s. Parish made a considerable fortune there as a merchant before being appointed first consul general of the United States to Hamburg in 1793. The sitter married Hercules Ross (1745-1816) in 1784, and the couple bought and rebuilt Rossie House of Montrose. Their son, Horatio Ross (1801-1886) was named for his godfather, Admiral Nelson, and became an accomplished sportsman and photographer.

The sitter had six appointments with Romney for this charming portrait between 12-22 July 1795. The painting was paid for on 28 July of the same year by her sister, Elizabeth Charnock, before it was sent to Rossie Castle on 3 September. In the same months, Romney painted a portrait of Elizabeth (Sotheby’s, New York, 6 February 2025, lot 405), which was sent from the artist’s studio to Hamburg, where their parents lived. Although intended for different locations, Alex Kidson points out that the ‘conception and handling’ of the two are very similar and were probably treated as companions (Kidson, op. cit., I, p. 123; II, p. 506). Kidson also notes that the two portraits challenge the long-held notion of Romney’s artistic isolation in his later work, as their free and experimental handling seem to demonstrate an awareness of developments in portraiture by contemporaries such as Sir Thomas Lawrence and Henry Raeburn. (op. cit., I, p. 123). A portrait of the sitter’s mother by Sir Henry Raeburn of similar dimensions and sentiment was sold at Christie’s, London, 8 July 2016.