This belongs to a pair of portraits of Queen Louisa of Denmark and Norway and her husband, King Frederick V (RCIN 404241).

Peter Wichmann was the son and pupil of Danish court artist Nicolai Wichmann. He was the favoured artist of Princess Charlotte Amalie (1706-82), and was also employed by her parents Frederick IV and Queen Louise. Whilst Wichmann travelled throughout Europe in the 1730s, Christian VI inherited the throne and the artist lost his standing in the court. This continued during the subsequent reign of Frederick V and Queen Louisa, whose official court painter was Carl Gustav Pilo. Wichmann is known to have made many versions of this pair of portraits. The style is typical of the artist’s Rococo palette and tight handling of paint. The Queen wears an ermine-lined scarlet mantle over a yellow dress, pinned with the Order of the Dannebrog.

Louisa was the youngest child of George II and Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach. On 14 September 1743, a treaty was signed between Great Britain and Denmark agreeing that Louisa should marry Prince Frederick (1723–66), son of Christian VI, King of Denmark and Norway, and Sophie Magdalene of Brandenburg-Culmbach. A month later, on 19 October 1743, Louisa left London for Hanover. She was married there by proxy on 10 November 1743, with her brother, William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, representing Prince Frederick. She married Frederick in person at Christiansborg Castle, Copenhagen, on 11 December 1743, and they had five children. Frederick became King of Denmark and Norway on the death of his father on 6 August 1746. Louisa died at Christiansborg Castle on 19 December 1751 and was buried at Roskilde Cathedral.