Princess Elizabeth was the granddaughter of Louis XV of France and sister of Louis XVI. She was known as Madame Élisabeth de France. Orphaned at the age of three, as a child she was noted for her aptitude for maths and the sciences. Her contemporaries said she was a skilled rider, with a gift for drawing and embroidery. She was deeply religious but had a more unconventional side to her character, sometimes signing her letters 'Elisabeth la Folle' (Mad Elisabeth). She was very attached to Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, with whom she lived all her life, refusing to marry in order to be able to remain with them. When the French Revolution broke out, Madame Élisabeth refused to go into exile with her aunts and other brothers. She stayed with Marie-Antoinette, accompanied her to prison, and then followed her to the guillotine, and was buried in a common grave.

This miniature does not correspond to any known painting of Princess Elizabeth, but may have been copied from an engraving by John Condé published on 1 August 1795 in London with the title: 'Elizth Phile Marie Hélène de France / Soeur du Roi Louis XVI / née à Versailles 3 mai 1764 / Egorgée juridiquement à Paris le 11 mai 1794 par Ordre des Régicides de la (soi-disant) Convention Nationale'. The frame is decorated with quill pens, manacles and an axe.

Little is known about the artist, Delahante or de la Hante (active 1790-1800). This painter was probably French but the only record of him is in connection with two unnamed miniatures he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1798 and 1799 from an address in Hanover Street, London. Alexis Delahante, who may have some connection with the artist, was a well-known London picture dealer whose accounts are in the Royal Archives for payment for paintings in June 1827 and July 1828.

The miniature is inscribed on the vellum backing in ink: Mad. Elizabeth / de France / Delahante pinx.