Samuel Prout (1783-1852) was an English watercolour painter specialising in picturesque views of European cities. He was the son of a shopkeeper and naval outfitter from Plymouth, and was taught drawing at Plymouth grammar school. In 1802, he moved to London and worked as an illustrator for the antiquarian publisher John Britton. From 1828 to 1833, Prout regularly attended the Artists' Conversazione (conversation), an evening social gathering in London to which young artists brought recent work. He lived in south London, in Brixton and Camberwell, and from 1809 to 1821 also taught at Dr Glennie's school (where Lord Byron was educated for two years), in Dulwich. Two of his pupils, the Revd J. D. Glennie and W. H. Harriott, later became amateur artists and travel writers. Prout was also the author of a number of ‘teach yourself’ watercolour painting books, such as Hints on Light and Shadow, Composition etc. (1836). In addition, he pioneered the technique of lithography which he used to illustrate the books he published on his European travels, including Picturesque Buildings in Normandy (1821) and Illustrations of the Rhine (1822–6). John Ruskin, the artist, critic and patron, became a great supporter of Prout and declared: ‘There is no stone drawing, no vitality of architecture like Prout's’.

Prout was appointed painter in watercolours in ordinary to George IV in 1829, an honour renewed by William IV and Queen Victoria. In 1830, he became a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. He was by this time among the top watercolour painters exhibiting in London, and was known to a wide public for his illustrated travel books and his drawing manuals.

The painting is attributed to Robert William Satchwell (active 1793-1818) who exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1793 and 1818. In 1808, he exhibited a portrait of Samuel Prout, which may well have been this miniature. His sitters included several other artists.