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The sitter here has traditionally been identified as Elizabeth, second eldest daughter of Oliver Cromwell. Although there is no authenticated likeness of Elizabeth, the most probable likeness of her is another portrait by Cooper in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch, dated to the year before the present work (1653). There is also a medal designed by Abraham Simon and made by Thomas Simon which dates to the year of Elizabeth’s death (1658), an example of which is in the British Museum [M.7389]. She was said to have been her father’s favourite daughter; one of Cromwell's earliest biographers wrote of 'the illustrious and most generous Lady Claypoll … this most illustrious daughter, the true representative and lively image of her father, the joy of his heart, the delight of his eyes and the dispenser of his clemency and benignity'.[1]

Cooper was working for the Cromwell family towards the end of 1650, when he painted a portrait of Elizabeth Bourchier, wife of Oliver Cromwell and mother to Elizabeth and eight other children.[2] After the death of both her husband and daughter Elizabeth in the same year (1658), she moved to Narborough (now renamed Northborough) in Northamptonshire, which was the home of Elizabeth and John Claypole. The accepted portrait of Elizabeth Claypole was purchased by the Duke of Buccleuch from the art dealers Colnaghi, amongst an assemblage of items all with the provenance of the Frankland family (Sir Thomas Frankland 2nd Bt. 1665-1726). Without an early provenance for the present work, it has not been possible to ascertain how certain the claim is that the sitter was a member of the Cromwell family. What is certain, however, is that the Cromwell family employed Cooper to provide them with the same service that his uncle’s workshop had provided for Charles I. In this the ‘Sovereign’ family fell in line with the rituals of European royal families, commissioning portrait miniatures for both private contemplation within the family and to function as diplomatic gifts.