Princess Louise of Prussia was painted by Sir William Ross at short notice while she and her parents, the King and Queen of Prussia, were guests of Queen Victoria in July 1856 shortly before her marriage on 20 September to Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden. Queen Victoria's dresser, Marianne Skerrett, had written to Ross on 15 July to warn him that: 'the Princess of Prussia wishes you to paint her daughter – Pss Louise, can you come to Osborne on Monday prepared to paint & then we will settle further things, their stay in England is but short & this picture is wanted as soon as possible' (RA VIC/ADDX5). Queen Victoria wrote to Leopold I, King of the Belgians, at the time: 'Louise, without positive beauty, [is] the sweetest, most amiable being imaginable – but rather zart [delicate]' (RA VIC/Y 101/26). The Honourable Eleanor Stanley, observing the visitors, described the Princess to her mother as 'really very pretty, with a good figure and beautiful complexion' (Stanley 1916, p. 312). A second version was commissioned from Ross by Queen Victoria as a present later in 1856.

Signed and dated around the edge on the reverse in ink: Painted by Sir W.  C. Ross R.A. Miniature Painter to The Queen. 1856. The second miniature. and in pencil in the centre by Queen Victoria Louise / Grandduchess / of / Baden / daughter of / the Pce and Pcs / of Prussia / b.1838 – / m.1856. / Painted by / Sir Wm Ross