A watercolour showing two studies of trees, possibly executed under the tutelage of WL Leitch. A watercolour border is shown around the upper study, with two trees shown in the foreground. Further trees are shown behind, with a partial study of Osborne House shown to the right. Further trees are shown in the study below, against a watercolour wash.

From the age of eight Queen Victoria received regular lessons in drawing and watercolour from professional artists including Richard Westall (1765 – 1836) and Edward Lear (1812 – 88). However, it was the Scottish landscape painter William Leighton Leitch (1804 – 83) with whom she had the most enduring relationship, as he taught her for 22 years. Before teaching Queen Victoria, Leitch had established an impressive reputation as an art tutor, with his pupils including the Duchess of Buccleuch, the Duchess of Sutherland and Queen Victoria’s lady-in-waiting Charlotte Canning.