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. Jane (1821-90) was the daughter of James Hope-Vere of Craigie and a cousin of Lady Douro, whose portrait is also in the Royal Collection (RCIN 404907). She was a Lady of the Bedchamber 1851-89 and a close friend of the Empress Eugénie. Lady St Helier, a contemporary, described her as ‘A handsome woman of imperious character and temper’ but Queen Victoria thought her ‘a very sweet, amiable, gentle person – pretty & lady like’. Signed and dated: Fr Winterhalter. Paris 1856. Inscribed on the back with the names of the artist and sitter and the date, 1856.