Jean Jacques Turretin (1779-1858) was born in May 1779 in Altona, Germany; the son of Jacques Turretin, a priest and Anna Marie Elisabeth Baumann, by 1828 he seems to have settled in Schleswig with his wife Petra Caroline de Hemmer whom he married in October 1814. Predominantly know as a miniaturist he did on occasion produce larger scale works; displaying much precision his style shows both an expressiveness and clarity of approach that together with a freshness of colour give his portraits a beguiling immediacy. The main body of his work seems to exist from about 1805 onwards reaching a high point during the mid 1820s.

The back of the portrait is inscribed in pencil “P. Roepstorff” and as such this is almost certainly a portrait of Pierre de Roepstorff (1798-1857), who was born in Copenhagen, June 1798 and married Maria Therese de Sartiges in January 1818. Turretin is also recorded as having painted Charlotte Frederikke Roepstorff the same year as this piece. The Danish noble family of Roepstorff possibly took its name from the village of Roepstorf by Kiel in Germany and descends from a long line founded in the early 17th century. Peter de Roepstorff was ennobled in Denmark on 16 April 1701.

Reference: 4th version of Weilbachs Kunstnerleksikon, 1994