Albertine Hayard (1797–1833) was the oldest of the four daughters of Charles-Roch Hayard (1768–1839), a French supplier of artists’ materials, based in Rome. This endearing portrait was made around the time of her marriage, aged 14 or 15, to the landscape painter Pierre-Athanase Chauvin (1774–1832). Both Hayard and Chauvin befriended Ingres while he was studying at the French Academy in Rome. Ingres was very skilled at drawing and was much in demand as a portraitist among the French community in the city.