Primarily a portraitist, Alexandre Dubois-Drahonet (1791-1829) worked for the French courts of Charles X and Louis-Philippe. His work is marked out by a clarity of line and understanding of light and shade acquired from Ingres.

In 1832 William IV commissioned the artist to paint his niece, the future Queen Victoria (RCIN 407006). This was part of a much larger commission to paint a series of one hundred pictures of soldiers that charted recent changes in the uniforms and weapons of the British Army. The sitters are sometimes identified by name, and are otherwise classified by rank and regiment. Ninety-one of the one hundred are still in the collection today. Apart from those depicting the French Navy in the Musée de la Marine, Paris, these are the only military works by Dubois-Drahonet that are recorded.

'Triangle-boy' John Sheay of the Royal Military Asylum, wears a red coatee with high-waisted blue trousers and a large cap with a scarlet band and welts. He holds the triangle in his left hand, with the beater in his right. The Royal Military Asylum was founded by Field Marshal H.R.H. Frederick, Duke of York, Commander in Chief of the British Army in 1801. It was built for the children of soldiers of the army and became the Duke of York's Royal Military School in 1892.