This painting - on a tray supplied by the japanners to the Queen, Jennens & Bettridge - is a near facsimile of the much larger painting by Sir Edwin Landseer in The Royal Collection that Queen Victoria gave as a Christmas present to Prince Albert. Albert hung it in his dressing-room in Buckingham Palace. So the Prince could enjoy the picture elsewhere, one can assume the Queen commissioned this smaller version (possibly more than one) painted probably not by Landseer himself but certainly under his supervision. The expression of devotion in Eos' eyes gives the impression that Prince Albert was standing just off-screen. We know that he wasn't as Landseer borrowed the Prince's hat, gloves and cane for the portrait and Albert was furious when he couldn't find them. Landseer was one of the nineteenth century's most celebrated painters and was reputed to have been Queen Victoria’s favourite. He first exhibited his work at the Royal Academy in 1816 when only fourteen years old and went onto establish his reputation with a series of animal subjects, particularly horses, dogs and stags who were often shown parodying human behaviours. In 1858, the government commissioned Landseer to make the four bronze lions for the base of Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square.