Born in Middlesex, London, in 1798, Henry Collen received a formal artistic training at the Royal Academy Schools from September 1820, although he had been a pupil of the painter George Hayter as early as 1819. It was through Hayter that Collen was first introduced in court circles. By 1835 Collen had been made Miniature Painter to the Duchess of Kent and the Princess Victoria, and his appointment as 'Miniature Painter to Her Majesty' on 16 August 1837 followed Queen Victoria's accession. He developed a distinguished clientele, but at the apogee of his career as a miniature painter he went into business with W.H. Fox Talbot, the inventor of the calotype process, becoming the first professional calotypist in London. The venture may not have been successful, for he exhibited miniatures at the RA throughout this period and continued to do so until 1872. He died aged eighty-one at 15 Portland Place, Brighton, on 8 May 1879.

Collen's miniature is copied from the full-length oil portrait of the Duchess of Kent by George Hayter, which had been presented to Princess Victoria on her birthday, 24 May 1835 (406563). She was delighted to receive Collen's miniature copy, writing from Ramsgate to her aunt, Queen Louise of the Belgians, on Christmas Day 1835: 'Mamma gave me a great many pretty things yesterday, one of which was her miniature picture copied from Hayter's full length one'.

Signed on top of a previous signature and dated on the left: 1835 / By H. Collen (scratched out, the H and C in monogram) / from / G. Hayter and inscribed on the reverse in ink: Maria Louisa Victoria / Duchess of Kent / copied by H. Collen / after Sir Geo: Hayter / 1835.