Victoria, Princess Royal (1840-1901), later Empress Frederick of Germany

Winterhalter was born in the Black Forest where he was encouraged to draw at school. In 1818 he went to Freiburg to study under Karl Ludwig Schüler and then moved to Munich in 1823, where he attended the Academy and studied under Josef Stieler, a fashionable portrait painter. Winterhalter was first brought to the attention of Queen Victoria by the Queen of the Belgians and subsequently painted numerous portraits at the English court from 1842 till his death.

Princess Victoria, Queen Victoria's eldest daughter, wears the badge of the Order of Victoria and a prominently displayed ring on her left hand, alluding to her engagement to Prince Frederick William of Prussia, whose portrait Winterhalter painted at the same time (Schloss Friedrichshof). She was 17 years old. This painting is the first in a set of portraits of Queen Victoria's four eldest daughters. The Queen recorded in her Journal: 'Winterhalter has done a beautiful picture of Vicky, & is making an excellent head…of Fritz'.

Signed and dated: F Winterhalter 1857. On the back of the lining canvas is a copy of the original inscription giving the names of the artist and sitter and the date, June 1857.