Joseph Hartmann (1812-85) was born at Ried, Austria. The city of Vienna played host to his early career but he later moved to Darmstadt where he received several commissions from the Grand Duke and Duchess of Hesse along with several eminent members of the ducal court. It is likely to have been through the recommendation of the Grand Duchess Alice, Queen Victoria’s second eldest daughter, that Hartmann found patronage at the Court of St James’s.

Prince Waldemar of Prussia (1868-79) was the sixth and favourite child of Crown Prince Friedrich (later Emperor Friedrich III of Germany), and Victoria, Princess Royal, the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria. He died of diptheria in Berlin, and is buried in the Kaiser Friedrich Mausoleum attached to the Friedenskirche at Potsdam, along with his brother Prince Sigismund (1864–66). The Prince appears here head and shoulders, wearing a naval suit with embroidered shawl collar, and a pink bow tie.