Hoppner was the son of a German physician working at the court of George II; he was encouraged to become a painter by George III, studying drawings in the Royal Collection as well as attending the RA Schools. The portrait is one of three depicting the youngest Princesses (see also RCIN 400167 and 400168), commissioned by George III in what must have seemed a generous vote of confidence in the seventeen-year-old artist. All three were exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1785. The infant Princess Amelia is seated on a step, wearing a white dress with a sash and a large lace cap, beating with her hands a drum held on her lap; a spaniel sits to the lower right. Hoppner seems openly to acknowledge his debt to the greatest painter of children at this time, Sir Joshua Reynolds, as is revealed by the comparison with his 1774 portrait of Princess Sophia Matilda (RCIN 400937).