Despite the Highland setting for this double portrait, with mountains and a loch in the distance, the sittings actually took place in London during Spring of 1849. Winterhalter’s visit to England in that year was unusually extended, lasting six months in total, no doubt in consequence of the widespread disturbances across Europe caused by the revolutions of 1848 and the exile of his former employer, the King of the French. In its depiction of the young Princes as hunters in a wild landscape the picture evokes the court portraiture of Velázquez, for example Prince Baltasar Carlos as a Hunter (1635-6; Madrid, Prado).

The year before this picture was commissioned Prince Albert had signed the lease on Balmoral, at that time a relatively modest house and sporting estate, and over the next few years the property was substantially redeveloped. Queen Victoria’s love of Scotland and its customs is reflected in the choice of Highland dress in a variety of tartan (and plain check) patterns for the two boys. The royal couple designed their own tartans – the ‘Balmoral’ (red and grey) and the ‘Victoria’ which is similar but with a white stripe. Tartan was used abundantly in the new Balmoral Castle, appearing on carpets, curtains and upholstery – a decision which gave impetus to the spread of plaid as a popular fabric for fashion accessories (Gernsheim 1981, p.30).

Text adapted from Victoria and Albert: Art & Love, London, 2010

Signed and dated: F Winterhalter. / 1849