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.

Prince Albert wears the uniform of Colonel of the Rifle Brigade and the ribbon and star of the Garter and the badge of the Golden Fleece. On the right, behind the table, lie the mantle and collar of a Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath and the Prince's Field-Marshal's baton. His shako, which, from 1800 onwards became a common military head-dress in most armies, is on the stool on the left and in the background we can glimpse the sea. Numerous copies were made of the two portraits as they were regarded as the new official likenesses.

Signed and dated: 'Fr Winterhalter / 1859.'