Fredericka, was the daughter of Frederick II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1691-1732) and Magdalena Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst.  In 1734 she married John Adolphus II, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels (1685-1746). Her younger sister, Augusta, became Princess of Wales on her marriage to Frederick, Prince of Wales in 1736. In the same year Fredericka’s husband inherited the paternal domains on the death of his older brother.

Probably depicted in her late teens, around the time of her marriage, she is wearing a blue dress with a border of lace at the breast and a lace fichu secured at the neck by a red ribbon; she wears a corsage, the blooms including a pink peony and a yellow carnation.

Part of set of 5 paintings of similar dimensions, possibly by two hands, recorded in Store at Carlton House in 1816 (nos 351-5). This included portraits of her sister Augusta, and two of her brothers, Christian Wilhelm and Johann August (RCINs 404499, 404500, 406407, 404497, 406408).