European-born miniaturist Nathaniel Hancock’s assured style and delicate stipple technique suggest that he was professionally trained, although little is known about his origins. He first advertised his services in Boston, offering miniatures finished in "an elegant style," with gold cases and hairwork. The itinerant Hancock sought clients from Virginia to New Hampshire, and he spent several years in Massachusetts. In addition to painting miniatures, Hancock taught watercolor painting, created needlework patterns, and probably worked as an engraver. This portrait exemplifies Hancock’s distinctive style: the face is deftly modeled with tiny stippling and the background is composed of larger strokes in red-brown and blue juxtaposed for opalescent effect.

Born into a prominent family in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Hannah Carter married William Smith in Boston in 1787. He was the son of wealthy merchant Isaac Smith and Elizabeth Storer Smith. Perhaps this miniature was commissioned to celebrate the birth of William and Hannah’s first and only child, Thomas Carter Smith, in 1796. A cherished keepsake, it remained in the family for generations.