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. The Grand Duke is wearing the uniform of Lieutenant-General in the 2nd Pomeranian Uhlan Regiment, No. 9, with the collar of the Order of the Bath. He was the son of Grand Duke George of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, whom he succeeded in 1863, and great-nephew of Queen Charlotte. In 1843 he had married Princess Augusta of Cambridge whose portrait was also painted by Winterhalter (RCIN 406676). Queen Victoria wrote that ‘Fritz of Mecklenburg is, you know, Albert’s very dear friend’. Signed and dated : 'F Winterhalter / 1853.' Inscribed on the back with the names of the artist and sitter and the date, 1853.