Among the most striking features of this portrait is Mrs. Beckford's lavish sacque dress (à la Francaise), of turquoise blue and silver watered silk, with matching silk trimmings on the bodice. The necklace, shoulder mantle and sleeve ruffles are of fine silk lace. Her jewellery includes clip-on earrings (called 'snaps'), probably made of paste, and on her wrists are two black silk bracelets mounted with portrait miniatures. Owing to the increasing pressure of business, Reynolds probably restricted his own contribution to the subject's pose and her head, leaving the detailed painting of her dress to a professional 'drapery' painter, or possibly to his young Italian studio assistant, Giuseppe Marchi.
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