A review of Miss Carew's performance in The Duenna in the July 1818 issue of The Theatrical Inquisitor, or Monthly Mirror that published this portrait, noted that the management's reason for performing the opera on the 7th July was to introduce Miss Carew as Clara. It noted that although she had been known at Covent Garden for some time she had not been given the chance to show her true talent, and commended the theatre for giving her the chance for the public to make a true estimation it. According to the reviewer she performed its difficult music: 'with a brilliancy and judgement, which have suffficed to establish her a first-rate singer'.

Born on 16th October 1799, Margaret Felicité Anne Carew was still eighteen when she appeared as Clara and this portrait was published, but she was articled to the singing instructor James Welsh when she was only twelve. After two years' tuition she was engaged in the chorus at Covent Garden and distinguished herself in the spring of 1816 by singing Miss Stephens' role of Lucy Mannering in the opera Guy Mannering,when Miss Stephens was ill, at four hours' notice. She played Sylvia in Cymon there the same year, was engaged by the Haymarket that summer and returned to Covent Garden for the winter season. The reviewer described her voice as: 'a clear, powerful and sweet soprano, of considerable compass' and that her principle roles were established as Rosina Lodina, Clarissa, and Leonora.