This is one of the series of forty-nine portrait miniatures (420431-420679; Royal Collection) of German and other forebears of the Hanoverian dynasty which were first recorded hanging in Queen Caroline's Closet at Kensington Palace by George Vertue in 1743. The series can be dated fairly narrowly by internal evidence to the years between 1593-7 and appears to be the work of a single as yet unidentified miniature painter who worked mainly at the Brunswick-Lüneburg court but also visited Brandenburg and other centres. The artist was a naïve successor to the tradition of German court portraiture established by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553) at the court of the Elector of Saxony at Wittenberg. Christian, second son of William the Younger (see 420439) succeeded his brother, Ernest II, as Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg in 1611. As his six brothers, he drew lots for the privilege of marrying, a competition won by the sixth son, George; Christian died unmarried in 1633. Inscribed at the top in white: CHRISTIANUS HERZOG ZU BRAUN: UND LUNEBURG.