Lady Montagu in Turkish dress.

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was one of the most celebrated English women of the early eighteenth century—writer, traveller, and populariser of smallpox inoculation in Britain following her observations of the practice in Turkey. She accompanied her husband to Constantinople in 1716–1718 as British Ambassador's wife and returned with detailed accounts of Ottoman society published as Turkish Letters. Liotard's 1756 copper portrait of her in Turkish dress reflects both his own experience of Constantinople and Lady Montagu's famous orientalist self-fashioning. The painting, now in the Łazienki Palace in Warsaw, captures a subject who was already legendary by the 1750s—elderly, but celebrated for her intelligence and unconventionality. The copper support, associated with jewel-like precision and permanence, seems appropriate for such a distinguished and legendary figure.

Copper with oil paint: the precise, jewel-like surface of the copper support suits both the Turkish costume's elaborate details and Lady Montagu's status as a historical figure of exceptional importance. Liotard's most careful modelling technique is deployed for a sitter of genuine historical significance.