William Johnston was the first portraitist to work for an extended period of time (1763-64) in Connecticut, where he enjoyed the patronage of prominent colonists like the Mumfords before returning to his native Boston. This likeness of Catherine Havens Mumford (1735-1778), one of four known portraits of Mumford family members, was probably painted at the same time as the portrait of her merchant husband, Thomas Mumford V, later a patriot active in the Revolutionary War. Her pose and the landscape behind her are similar to the grand postures and settings that other colonial painters drew from English mezzotint prints.