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 Augustus, his brother Philip, and their parents, Prince Augustus of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Princess Clémentine d'Orléans, had come to London from France in 1848. They stayed in Buckingham Palace and Winterhalter painted portraits of the children. Queen Victoria wrote to the King of the Belgians, 'The little Coburgs are very gt. Amusement; Gusty [Augustus] is a darling'. Queen Victoria recorded on 18 May 1849 that Winterhalter was 'painting and finishing his picture of little Gusty, which is most successful'. At

Prince Augustus attained the rank of Admiral in the Brazilian navy and married Leopoldina (1864) the younger daughter of Pedro II, Emperor of Brazil.

Inscribed on the back with the names of the artist and sitter and the date, 1849