A student of William Merritt Chase, Carolus-Duran, and Jean-Jacques Henner, she worked mainly in Paris but also maintained studios in London and New York.

By birth and marriage she possessed a level of wealth and social prestige that, together with her artistic skill, enabled her to obtain lucrative commissions from prominent individuals.

Late in her career a critic wrote that her "popularity has a sound basis, for her portraits combine such abstract artistic qualities as effective and infinitely varied design and daringly unconventional arrangements of color, with strong characterization and a likeness that never fails to be convincing," and added, "her concern with the artistic problem never makes her obtrude her own personality or offend the sitter's susceptibilities.

[5] In 1888, newly married and having moved to Manhattan from her parents' home, Cotton sought to become a student of William Merritt Chase.

In 1908 Chase described the meeting: "One morning a young lady came into my Tenth street studio, just as I was leaving for an art class in Brooklyn.

"[9][note 2] In 1889, a second Chase portrait of her, "Lady in Pink", was shown at the Spring Exhibition at the National Academy of Design in New York.

[16] Not long after their arrival Cotton began study in a Parisian studio run by the portraitists, Carolus-Duran and Jean-Jacques Henner, who were known for taking on women students, particularly Anglo-Americans.

[17][note 4] A remarkable debut in London is made by a young American artist of great promise, Mrs. Mariette Cotton, who has evidently acquired from her master, M. Carolus-Duran, many of the secrets of his powerful palette, and with them his felicity in the simple and direct presentation of a subject.

Her standpoint is as yet very naturally ultra-French; and, after the fashion of many of her most accomplished fellow countrymen, she too strongly tinges with this acquired colour the personality of her sitters.

But if she can retain the technical mastery thus early achieved in the French atelier, while more fully developing her own artistic individuality, she will be able to accomplish great things.

[32][note 8] A critic for The Sun singled out "Miss E. Winslow" as the best of the group, saying the portrait contained a "dignity and distinction quite apart from any charm of feature or expression."

The exhibition attracted the attention of critics who praised her versatility and evident sympathy with her sitters as well as the "dash and spirit" of her style.

[50][note 12] When twenty-one portraits appeared at Knoedler's in 1904, reviewers praised her character research, directness and simplicity, and clever brushwork.

[58] Gertrude Lady Savile, who was raised in a well-connected English family, developed strong ties in the United States after she married a man who had a diplomatic appointment at the British embassy in Washington, D.C. During her stay in the country she became "the toast of the town not only in the national capital, but also in New York.

[63] A close friend of Edward VII, Walker provided Cotton with an introduction that resulted in a request from the king that she paint his portrait as well.

[note 14] When the portrait was shown in an exhibition at Knoedler's later that year, a critic praised an innovative informality of clothing and pose which revealed the king's amiability without compromising his dignity.

[62][65] Early in 1914, Cotton brought some of her London portraits to New York for exhibition at Knoedler's eliciting this concise evaluation from a critic for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle: "There is little doubt of the talent of Mrs. Leslie Cotton, who shows portraits in oil, in the upper gallery at Knoedler's, for she paints with conviction, with much feeling and with convincing result.

She showed her work infrequently in New York galleries, instead inviting acquaintances to her studio to see recently completed portraits and ones still in progress.

Reviewers praised the show in general, saw some unevenness in the quality of her work, and were impressed with both the social standing and attractiveness of her sitters.

[note 16] One influential critic, Henry McBride, said "Mrs. Cotton realizes her personages for us so vividly that one is tempted to run off into personal gossip rather than to thread the tedious intricacies of a discussion of artistic technique.

[note 17] Mrs. Cotton, who works in Paris, appears to enjoy an enviable degree of popularity, if one may judge from the formidable array of distinguished sitters who have passed through her studio.

The painter's popularity has a sound basis, for her portraits combine such abstract artistic qualities as effective and infinitely varied design and daringly unconventional arrangements of color, with strong characterization and a likeness that never fails to be convincing.

[1][3] During the time that Cotton was establishing herself as a professional artist reporters found it odd that an influential society woman would, as one of them said, challenge the successful male portraitists such as Sargent or George Burroughs Torrey.

[97] A third saw her as a type of new woman such as Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, Edith Wharton, Emily Post, and other successful women in American literature and the arts.

"[98] A fifth echoed this sentiment and elaborated: "In the circles of great wealth are a dozen women who are doing meritorious work with brush, pen, and chisel.

[53][78] In 1917 a reviewer said, "Mrs. Cotton is a disappointing painter in that her work varies so greatly, some of it unusually good, and some of it so weak as to make it difficult to understand how it could proceed from the same brush.

[109] Dudley P. Cotton was a successful merchant, trading in the West Indies, who belonged to a wealthy and well connected family based originally in New Hampshire.

[16] The couple's wealth together with Cotton's gift for social advancement enabled them to gain acceptance within the British aristocracy and a few years after their arrival in London they were granted the privilege of a presentation to the Court at Buckingham Palace.