A watercolour showing snow-covered parkland and bay at Osborne. Snow-covered trees are shown across the parkland with a bare tree shown in the foreground to the left. The bay is shown in the background.
Inscribed lower left: Jan: 3 - 4 - 1867 -
Inscribed below pasted down sheet: Osborne - Jan: 3 -4 - 1867 -

The Osborne Estate, on the Isle of Wight, was purchased by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1845. Work was started straight away on rebuilding Osborne House in the Italianate style, to designs by Prince Albert, and the royal family stayed there for lengthy periods each year. While staying at Osborne, Queen Victoria often spent time sketching in the grounds. On both the 3 and 4 January 1867, Queen Victoria took advantage of the deep snow to go sledging around the Osborne Estate with her third daughter, Princess Helena. The Queen records both Sledge rides in her journal, describing how the "frost on the trees & hedges was extremely pretty" in her journal entry of 4 January 1867.