Jonathan Brace, the sitter in this portrait, balances a Bible under his left hand, symbolizing his lifelong devotion to the Christian church. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Brace graduated from Amherst College in 1831 and pursued theological studies in Andover, Massachusetts; New Haven, Connecticut; and Princeton, New Jersey. In 1844, after having served as pastor of the Congregational Church in Litchfield, Connecticut, for about eight years, he resigned from his post "for reasons connected to his health," according to one account. Perhaps his departure from that church occasioned the commission of his miniature portrait. By the following year, he had resumed his ministry in Milford, Connecticut. Today, the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library holds the texts for twenty-four sermons by Brace, two of which were published.

Self-taught artist George Freeman grew up on a farm near Mansfield, Connecticut. Rather than performing rigorous farm work, he spent more time reading and sketching due to his ill health. He moved with his sister and her husband to the region of Albany in 1808, traveling frequently in search of commissions to paint easel portraits and miniatures. When Freeman relocated to London in 1817, he found such great success in an aristocratic and even royal patronage that he stayed abroad for more than twenty years. This miniature was painted shortly after Freeman returned to the United States in 1841, on the heels of a major honor to paint a miniature for Queen Victoria. Freeman enjoyed continued success with commissions and exhibitions, primarily in New York, Boston, and Hartford, Connecticut.