Portrait of Miss Andrewes, half-length, seated, in a yellow dress and black shawl with a lace ruff, in an interior

On stylistic grounds this portrait is datable to circa 1770 and is an important example of the artist's early work before he had the opportunity to travel to Italy (1773-75). The masterpiece of this early phase in the artist's career is the group portrait of The Leigh Family which Romney exhibited at the Free Society of Artists in 1768 (National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; A. Kidson, George Romney, catalogue to the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, no.69, illustrated) and the sitter's dress in the present portrait is similar to that worn by Mrs Leigh in that group portrait. The interest that Romney has lavished on the sitter's costume is characteristic of his early work and the detailed understanding of the chair reflects the knowledge that he had gained from his father, who was a furniture-maker, with whom Romney had worked throughout his teenage years. According to the 1933 catalogue Miss Andrewes was a lineal descendant of the Rev. Lancelot Andrewes, Lord Bishop of Winchester (d.1626).