After John Singleton Copley left the colonies for England, and Edward Savage moved to Halifax during the Revolutionary War, Charles Willson Peale and members of his family became the country’s greatest representatives of the art of miniature. Peale, who would become one of the most prominent artists of his day, as well as an inventor, scientist, and founder of a public museum, learned the art of miniature during his London sojourn in 1767–69, and this portrait of a young boy is believed to date from this period in his early career.

Most, if not all Peale children, were expected to enter, in some capacity, the field of art. Raphaelle Peale learned from his father, Charles Willson Peale, as well as his uncle James Peale, the art of miniature painting, which he practiced until about 1819.