Queen Victoria commissioned Ross to paint the young Duchess of Brabant during the visit paid by the Belgian Royal Family in 1853. Her uncle, the King of the Belgians, with the newly married Duke and Duchess of Brabant arrived at Dover from Ostend on 21 October and stayed as guests of the Queen at Windsor Castle. They left for Dover from Cowes on 12 December after an extended visit. On 9 November 1853 Queen Victoria recorded in her Journal that the Duchess of Brabant 'sat before luncheon to Ross, for a miniature' (RA QVJ: 9 November 1853). A second sitting was recorded the following day (RA QVJ: 10 November 1853) and the miniature was shown to Princess Mary of Cambridge by the Queen on 19 November. The final sitting was reported in the Court Circular on Tuesday 6 December 1853. On her engagement to the Duke of Brabant in May of that year, the King of the Belgians had reported to Queen Victoria: 'I am rather smitten with my future daughter in law, she is very pretty. There is something wrong with one tooth which is a pity, else it is a very pretty creature' (RA VIC/Y 78/54). He also remarked upon her 'beautiful brown eyes' (RA VIC/Y 78/52). Queen Victoria wrote soon after her arrival: 'Maria has sweet, clever, brown eyes, with delicate eyebrows, a lovely mouth, with a pretty, intelligent smile. She is rather serious & silent, – her voice gentle & rather plaintive, & she speaks slowly with that peculiar Austrian accentuation, I am so fond of' (RA QVJ: 22 October 1853). A copy of the miniature was given by Queen Victoria to the sitter's husband, Leopold, Duke of Brabant, who commented: 'Tout le monde admirent la miniature de Rosse, c'est vivant. Je ne saurai assez vous temoigner [sic] la plaisir que me fait ce jolie cadeau' ['Everyone admires the miniature by Ross, it is a vivid likeness. I cannot adequately convey to you the pleasure that this pretty present gives me'] (RA VIC/Y 164/30).

Marie Henriette, youngest daughter of Archduke Joseph of Austria, Palatine of Hungary, married, on 22 August 1853, Leopold, Duke of Brabant, eldest son of Leopold I, King of the Belgians, and Queen Louise. She became Queen of the Belgians when her husband succeeded his father to the throne in 1865. Their only son, Leopold, died aged nine in 1869, but she was survived by three daughters.

Signed and dated on the reverse in grey wash: [Painted] by Sir W.C. Ross R.A. [Miniature] Painter to / The Queen. 1853.