A watercolour showing a group of German peasant women, after RCINs 980027.ai and 980027.aj. The figures are all shown full-length, standing in a field. The figure to the left is shown facing left and holding a scythe in one hand. She is wearing a blue skirt with matching stockings and headscarf. Inscribed below: F[ro]m Spessart - Two women are shown behind, from behind, with the figure to the right holding a rake. Inscribed below: VR del - July 1852. Rosenau The woman in the centre is shown facing left. She is standing with her hands on her hips and is carrying a basket on her back. Her face is obscured by a large red headscarf. Inscribed below: Langfarette. - Inscribed lower centre: From sketches taken on the spot and in the carriage - by VR - Aug: 1845 in Germany. In August 1845, Queen Victoria made her first visit to her husband's homeland. The Royal Family arrived in Germany on 11 August 1845. On 18 August 1845, when the original drawings were executed, they travelled from Mainz to Würzburg. In her journal entry of that day, Queen Victoria describes how during her journey she passed peasant women working in the fields, "bringing in the harvest...carrying such immense weights in baskets on their backs — & often barefoot".