Edwin Landseer was one of the few artists who worked for Queen Victoria before her marriage and who continued to enjoy royal patronage long thereafter. During the early 1840s he gave both Queen Victoria and Prince Albert etching lessons, and the couple sometimes called in to his studio in St. John's Wood (Journal, 3 April 1849).

Eos was Prince Albert's favourite pet - a greyhound who was very docile with children. Eos had died a month before this painting was delivered and Landseer had looked out any sketches he had made of the dog to give to the Prince. In this 'memorial picture', Princess Alice sitting beside Eos, rest her head and right hand on the dog's flank and holds a toy dog by a ribbon in her left hand; wearing a white dress and black sash.