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. Caroline (1822 –96) was the daughter of the Hon. Lionel Dawson. In 1851 she married Henry Parnell, later 3rd Lord Congleton. She was Maid of Honour 1845-51. Queen Victoria described her as ‘A very pretty, nice, pleasing girl’. Signed and dated: F Winterhalter / 1850. Inscribed on the back with the names of the artist and sitter and the date, July 1850.