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.

Alexandrine (1820-1904) was the eldest daughter of Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden. She had married the Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha on 3 May 1842, a few weeks before their visit to London when this portrait was painted, together with a companion painting of her husband (RCIN 404519). Queen Victoria found her 'a most amiable, sensible, and gentle creature, and without being really handsome, very pretty and pleasing'.

Signed and dated: F Winterhalter [London. 1842]. Inscribed on the back with the names of the artist and sitter and the date, 1842.