Annie Dixon was born in Horncastle in 1817, and worked as a portrait miniaturist in Hull, the Isle of Wight and London until the last decade of the nineteenth century. From 1859, when she undertook her first royal commission (420351), she enjoyed great favour with Queen Victoria, partly on account of her skill in painting children, but also undoubtedly because of her pleasingly moderate prices. Her skill was sufficient for her to sustain a long and successful career in miniature painting at a time when many other practitioners suffered from the competition posed by the new art of photography.

Probably Annie Dixon's first work for Queen Victoria, this miniature of Princess Beatrice, painted shortly before her second birthday, was much copied (see, for example, 422047). At least four photographic copies were made during March and April 1859, two by Mr Grey of 240 Oxford Street, a photographic colourist; Guglielmo Faija was also paid 6 guineas 'for a Miniature of Ps. Beatrice after Miss Dixon' in April 1859.).

Signed, dated and inscribed on the reverse in ink: The P-ss Beatrice / Painted by A. Dixon / March 1859.