Son of a Perthshire laird, Sir Francis Grant was unusual in being largely self-taught. After spending a substantial inheritance on his great passions – hunting to hounds and collecting paintings, Grant decided to turn his considerable talents to professional use. Despite being one of the most sought after society portrait painters of his day and the only Scottish President of the Royal Academy in London, Queen Victoria observed ‘He has decidedly much talent but it is the talent of an amateur’. However, Grant did find favour at court and received commissions by the Queen on several occasions during the 1840’s.

The painting records a review which took place on the morning of 11 June 1845 when the Queen inspected the troops stationed at Windsor, the Regiment of Royal Horse Guards and the 2nd Battalion of Coldstream Guards. According to The Times newspaper the following morning, the Queen had worn a blue habit with a velvet collar and a Field-Marshal’s aiguillette (ornamental braided cord). In the painting she also wears the ribbon of the Garter and in the background we can see the Duke of Wellington on his horse. The Queen’s horse is Hammon, an Arab who had been bred in the King of Prussia’s stud at Trakehnen and was given to the Queen in 1844. The horse, according to the Queen, behaved extremely well. This is a sketch for an equestrian portrait of the Queen which, along with a portrait of Prince Albert (RCIN 400584), Grant was painting for Christ’s Hospital in commemoration of her visit to the school. Both were exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1846. The artist had to change the position of the horse and rider during the course of the painting, apparently because the original composition was identical to Sir Edwin Landseer’s portrait of the Queen. This new design is reminiscent of Van Dyck’s portrait at Holkham Hall of the Duke of Arenberg.