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 was Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter. She met her future husband, Prince Frederick William of Prussia, when he came with his parents to the opening of the Great Exhibition on 1 May 1851. She was 11 years old and he was 21. They became engaged in 1855 and married in 1858. Here Princess Victoria wears the dress and wreath of flowers that she wore at the opening of the Great Exhibition. A miniature hangs from her pearl necklace. Signed and dated; F Winterhalter 1851. Inscribed on the back with the names of the artist and sitter and the date, 1 May 1851.