Born in England, Sully spent his youth in Charleston, South Carolina before settling in Philadelphia in 1808, where he quickly became the city's leading protrait painter. The freshness and fluency of his technique are characteristics which were reinforced by a brief period of study in England with Sir Thomas Lawrence. A prolific artist, Sully recorded in his Register the completion of more than 2,600 paintings during his long career. Deborah Owings was the daughter of Samuel Owings, a welathy landowner who operated several flour mills in Baltimore County. She married Peter Hoffman III on May 16, 1799. Sully records in his Register that he began this protrait on April 9, 1821 and completed it in December, some eight months later.