This ravishing portrait by Michael Dahl was part of the large collection of Thomas Wyndham of Clearwell Court, Gloucestershire that made its way to Adare Manor, Co. Limerick as part of the inheritance of his only daughter Caroline who married Windham Wyndham-Quin, 2nd Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl in 1810. It is believed that this collection was brought to Adare after an ambitious rebuilding project that was undertaken from 1832 to the early 1860s after which Clearwell was emptied of many Wyndham family portraits. These were certainly at Adare by 1865 when the Countess of Dunraven wrote a catalogue on the history and collection of the Manor. This portrait has a very faint label on the reverse indicating it came from Clearwell Court so we know it would have been moved at around this time. It was also at this time that the photographer Robert French captured various rooms at Adare including the long gallery where we can see this work and its distinctive Lely frame hanging on the left.

In researching the genealogy of the Wyndham family, it would appear immensely likely that this portrait depicts Lady Catherine Montagu, daughter of Robert Montagu, 3rd Earl of Manchester and Anne Yelverton. Catherine was one of ten children, many of whom became leading members of elite society. Her sister Anne married the Earl of Suffolk and her brother was raised in the peerage to become the 1st Duke of Manchester in 1719.

Lady Catherine married the Welsh MP Samuel Edwin (1671 - 1722) of Llanmihangel Plas in Glamorgan on the 21st of September 1697. Edwin had inherited an enormous fortune from his father Sir Humphrey Edwin, Lord Mayor of London, including extensive properties across Westminster. Samuel and Catherine had two children, Charles and Anne, however Charles died without an heir making their daughter Anne the sole heiress of her parent's estates. Anne married Thomas Wyndham of Clearwell Court in 1728 and they had a son named Charles, who changed his surname to Edwin on inheriting his uncle's estates. It was his granddaughter Caroline Wyndham that married the 2nd Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl and brought this portrait, and much of the rest of the Clearwell collection to Adare Manor.

At the time of Samuel and Catherine's marriage, when this portrait would have been painted, Michael Dahl was working on his most important commission, the Petworth Beauty series, painted for Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset. The series consists of 7 female portraits and was begun after 1695. Incidentally, the Duke of Somerset's daughter and co-heir Lady Catherine Seymour had married Sir William Wyndham, 3rd Bt and cousin of Anne Edwin's husband Thomas.

Portraits were often commissioned to celebrate a marriage which would appear most probable in this case. If looking at the portrait of Rachel Russell, Duchess of Devonshire, which is part of the Petworth Beauty series and dated to around the same time, it is evident that the clothing and hairstyle of both sitters is immensely similar meaning this work would likely have been completed at around the same time. The fact that the hairstyles of both women are the same, showing the hair gathered high on top of the head allows us to date both works accurately to the latter half of the 1690s as by the turn of the 18th century, this fashion had fallen from favour.