For her portrait, which is painted in oil on canvas, Ingres sought to infuse symbols of her material wealth with the dignity, grace and beauty of Renaissance art, especially that of Raphael, while at the same time adhering to the command of line as practised by Jan van Eyck.

Betty de Rothschild's portrait is regarded as one of Ingres' most accomplished works and has been described as "perhaps the most sumptuous yet approachable image of mid-nineteenth-century opulence.

Rothschild wears a pink satin evening dress with rows of ruching at the hem and lace frills at the collar and sleeves, trimmed with ribbon bows.

[1] She is positioned unusually low in the pictorial plane, giving her a vulnerability at odds with the obvious stature offered by the heraldic inscription and coat of arms at the top right.

The portrait is dominated by two main elements: her wine-red satin robe and the charm of her facial expression and perfectly oval, almost idealised, face.

[2] The arrangement of Rothschild's upper body may have been partly inspired by a pastel by the Swiss artist Jean-Étienne Liotard, the Portrait of Louise d'Épinay (1759), which Ingres is known to have especially admired.

[6] Many critics have noted Ingres' unusual use of light in this work; the shadows on her dress are rendered flatter than the lit areas of cloth, yet paradoxically lie just above them on the surface of the canvas.

During the German occupation of France during World War II, it was confiscated from Mme de Rothschild's grandchildren as Jewish property.