This is a copy by M Fry of Winterhalter’s portrait of Princess Charlotte, painted for the King of the Belgians in 1844 and in the Belgian Royal Collection. The artist is probably Matthieu Fry of Antwerp whose label is fixed to the stretcher for the canvas. Princess Charlotte was the only daughter of Leopold I, King of the Belgians. She was lively, attractive and intelligent as a child, adored by her father and much loved by her English relatives. In 1857 she married the Archduke Ferdinand-Maximilian of Austria. He was created Emperor of Mexico in 1864 but was executed there in 1867. After her husband’s death Charlotte lived in seclusion in Belgium.