Cornelia Paterson Van Rensselaer was the daughter of Stephen Van Rensselaer (1789-1868) of Albany, tenth patroon, and Harriet Elizabeth (Bayard) Van Rensselaer. She married Nathanial Thayer (1808-83), a financier and philanthropist, on June 10, 1846. Richard S. Greenough was a younger brother of Horatio Greenough, one of America's first academy-trained sculptors. This portrait was modeled before the artist's departure for Italy, cast in plaster, and carved in marble after his arrival in Rome.