Hermann David Salomon Corrodi (1844-1905) studied and exhibited in Paris and Rome, and also showed works in Vienna, Germany and England. He travelled to Egypt, Syria, Palestine and Turkey. He established a trusted relationship with Kaiser William II who acquired his painting of the Dome of the Rock of Jerusalem, and he met the Teck family at the Hotel Sonnenberg on Lake Lucerne in the summer of 1884. Princess Mary Adelaide, the Duchess of Teck, discovered that he had given painting lessons to Alexandra, Princess of Wales.

Queen Victoria visited Villa Palmieri in the Fiesole, central Italy, three times; in 1888, 1893 and 1894. During her first visit she painted a watercolour view of the Villa (RCIN 980053.z). This oil painting depicts the wide terrace of the Villa, with an expansive view over Florence behind. Queen Victoria, dressed in black with a white lace cap, is seated in an upholstered chair on a red carpet; two Indian pages wait in attendance behind her, and on the right a man and a lady stand by the balustrade conversing.