A watercolour showing Queen Victoria's eldest seven children in the Pleasure Grounds at Osborne. Princess Alice, Prince Alfred and Albert Edward, Prince of Wales are shown standing in a group to the left. They are shown from behind, with Princess Alice holding one hand on Prince Alfred's back. Victoria, Princess Royal is shown to the left, holing the hands of her two younger sisters, Princess Louise and Princess Helena. The Nurse, Mary-Ann Thurston, is shown standing behind them with the infant Prince Arthur in her arms.
The children are all dressed in nineteenth-century style children's summer clothes and straw hats.
Inscribed below pasted down sheet: The children in the Pleasure Ground at Osborne Aug 1850.
Inscribed lower left: Alice, Alfred, Bertie.
Inscribed lower right: Louise, Vicky & Helena. Mrs Thurston with Arthur

Osborne, where the royal family stayed over the summer, was a place where the Queen could relax and practice her watercolour painting. This informal grouping reflects family life at the royal retreat on the Isle of Wight.

Text adapted from Victoria & Albert: Art & Love, London, 2010