[4] Although Goodridge was aged forty when she painted this miniature, according to art critic Chris Packard her breasts seem younger, with a "balance, paleness, and buoyancy" which is imbued in part by the harmony of light and color.

[6] The painting, measuring 2.6 by 3.1 inches (6.7 by 8 cm), is today mounted in a leather case with a hinged lid and two clasps;[7] it had originally been installed on a paper backing which had the date "1828" on the reverse.

By the time Goodridge completed her self-portrait, miniatures were increasing in complexity and vibrance;[10] the genre was particularly common among women artists, who were perceived as having what the art scholar Emily Gerhold describes as the "delicate sense of touch" necessary.

[14] The Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History describes Beauty Revealed as a play on the eye miniatures which were then popular as tokens of affection in England and France, but not common in the United States.

Works that depicted the naked female form tended to present Native Americans or, borrowing from the European tradition, stories from Greek and Roman mythologies.

[13] Several works have been cited as possible inspirations, including John Vanderlyn's Ariadne Asleep on the Island of Naxos[20] and Horatio Greenough's sculpture Venus Victrix.

[4] The American art critic John Updike suggests that the artist intended it to offer herself to Webster; he writes that the bared breasts appear to say "We are yours for the taking, in all our ivory loveliness, with our tenderly stippled nipples".

Carrie Rebora Barratt and Lori Zabar of the Met describe Goodridge's self-portrait as the most compelling of the "strange and wonderful" miniatures by minor artists in the collection.

[28] In 2009, authors Jane Kamensky and Jill Lepore drew inspiration from Beauty Revealed, as well as other paintings such as John Singleton Copley's A Boy with a Flying Squirrel, for their novel Blindspot.

[31] Art historian Dale Johnson described Beauty Revealed as "strikingly realistic", demonstrative of Goodridge's ability to portray nuanced lights and shadows.

[4] Similarly, the art curator Chelsea Nichols argues that Beauty Revealed exposed the "confidence and passions of a woman way ahead of her time, who has proudly embraced the eroticism of her body and role as cherished mistress", rather than burden herself with the expectations of a politician's wife.