Greuze was well-known for his sentimental genre scenes, portraits and studies of expressive heads (têtes d'expression), painting many such works in the later half of the 18th century. He was made an associate member of the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in 1755, but did not submit his reception piece until prompted 12 years later. For this piece, he tried to experiment with the genre of history painting, but without success and was received only as a painter of everyday subjects. After his work was received negatively at the Salon, he did not exhibit there until 1800. He exhibited elsewhere and publicized himself in the press.

During the French Revolution, Greuze made many versions of his 'Head of a Girl'. They were were very popular, and allowed him to keep afloat in this difficult time and after an expensive divorce in 1792. His work was widely collected and remained popular until the last few years of his life. The interest in Greuze resumed in the latter part of the 19th century, by the end of the century studies of girl's heads such as this made record prices. In his memoir of collecting, Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild relates a story that he much admired a 'Head of a Girl' by Greuze in his father's collection. As a young boy, he used to imitate the portrait's pose for the amusement of his mother and his parent's guests (Michael Hall; Bric-a-Brac: A Rothschild Memoir of Collecting; Apollo; July 2007-August 2007; 50-77).