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 Prince had come to England with his family to attend the opening of the Great Exhibition. It was then that he met Princess Victoria, the Queen's eldest daughter, for the first time. Queen Victoria described Prince Frederick to the King of the Belgians as 'a most dear, excellent, simple, & unaffected young man, & very sensible'. Princess Victoria formed 'an amazing friendship' with the Prince and his sister, such that the Queen commented 'Might this one day lead to a union! God knows it wld make us very happy, – for I never saw a more amiable, unspoilt, & good young man than he is'. They married in 1858.

Signed and dated: F Winterhalter. 1851. Inscribed on the back with the names of the artist and sitter and the date, May 1851.