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. Prince Albert Edward, Queen Victoria’s eldest son, is dressed in the uniform of Colonel of the 10th Hussars and holds his shako which, from 1800 onwards, became a common military head-dress in most armies. He wears the ribbon and star of the Garter, the badge of the Golden Fleece, and the Star of India. The portrait was commissioned along with that of Princess Alexandra (RCIN 402351) whom he had married in 1863. Signed and dated: Fr Winterhalter 1864.