A Lancaster-born portrait painter, Brown turned exclusively to miniatures upon moving to Philadelphia in 1844. While the growth of photography heralded the miniature’s eventual demise, Brown used the new medium to great advantage. Sending his clients to photographers, he used the resulting images as models, freeing both parties from tedious sittings. This miniature is based on a daguerreotype by James McClees, whcih is also in the Rosenbach collection. The pair is the only known extant example of a Brown portrait that is identical to its source photograph.