Henrietta Maria is depicted in this miniature by David Des Granges wearing a black dress with a finely rendered border of lace; in the background is a distant view of Windsor Castle. Aspects of this work have clear affinities with the style of John Hoskins, who popularised (although he may not have been the originator) of the distant poetic landscape as backdrop in portrait miniatures. Hoskins's own miniature of Henrietta Maria of c.1632 (420891; Royal Collection) appears to have been profoundly influential on David Des Granges here, most notably in the rendition of the lace embellishments of the costume and softly-curled ringlets of the queen. There is clear evidence of a link between the two men, including David Des Granges's marriage, on 7 January 1635/6 to Judith Hoskins, who was presumably connected with the Hoskins/Cooper household, and it seems possible, if not likely, that Des Granges's first introduction to royal patronage would have been made through the offices of the older miniaturist. David Des Granges is recorded as the engraver in 1628 of the painting Saint George and the Dragon by Raphael given by Lord Pembroke to Charles I. His earliest miniatures also date from the 1620s and he is also known to have produced at least one limned copy of an Old Master painting in Charles I's collection (Allegory, said to be of the Marchese del Vasto after Titian, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, HH394-1948). Des Granges followed Charles II to Scotland during the Civil War and produced numerous images of the king for distribution, but the payments which he was owed for this work were still outstanding in 1671, shortly before his death.