Coussmaker sat for Reynolds 21 times and his horse 8 times between February 9 and April 16. Reynolds was paid 205 pounds. Another 10 guineas paid for the frame. The portrait remained with Coussmaker and his descendants until 1884. It was then sold to William K. Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt bequeathed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1920. Museum curators describe the picture as "an exceptionally fine work ... The composition is complex and the whole vigorously painted."