Joseph Hartmann (1812-85) was born at Ried in Austria. The city of Vienna played host to his early career but he later moved to Darmstadt where he received several commissions from the Grand Duke and Duchess of Hesse along with several eminent members of the ducal court. It is likely to have been through the recommendation of the Grand Duchess Alice, Queen Victoria’s second eldest daughter, that Hartmann found patronage at the Court of St James’s.

This portrait depicts the eldest child of Prince Albert and Queen Victoria, the Princess Royal, aged about seventeen years old. Wearing a white muslin dress trimmed with green, the princess is shown seated outdoors, gazing directly at the viewer with her hands folded in her lap. The princess’ pose has allowed the artist to obscure the fact that she was, at the time of sitting for the portrait, seven months pregnant.