Head and shoulders portrait of Dowager Grand Duchess Friedrich Wilhelm of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, facing the spectator, dressed in black with a long string of pearls around her neck, and a diamond and pearl brooch at her throat; upon her head is a black lace cap Princess Augusta Caroline (1822-1916) was Queen Victoria’s cousin, the eldest daughter of Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, seventh son of George III, and Princess Augusta, daughter of Frederick, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel. In 1843 she married Frederick William, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, who succeeded his father in 1860. They had one surviving son who became Adolphus Frederick V, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Queen Mary wrote to the Grand Duchess, on 27th May 1911, expressing her pleasure at the gift of the portrait; 'All the family here admired it enormously & it was the (underlined) centre of attraction among all my presents. The likeness is really very good & the painting well 'finished' which I like not like the modern school...' Ludwig Streitenfeld (1849-1930) studied at the Academy in Vienna until 1872, and then at the Academies in Munich, Düsseldorf and Dresden. He made a study trip to Italy, France and Switzerland, and worked in Vienna, Munich, Berlin and Neustrelitz. Streitenfeld settled in Eisenach in 1927.