The first sitting for this striking miniature took place on 13 July 1841 and was followed by others on 14, 20 and 21 July. The premise of the commission from Queen Victoria's court miniature painter, Sir William Ross, was clear: the profile was intended ‘to be a pendant to the beautiful one he did of Albert’ (RA QVJ: 13 July 1841), a reference to the miniature (421462) which had so captivated the Queen when Ross finished it the previous year. There had been several successful precedents for profile portraits of the Queen, including Richard Lane’s drawing, executed for the Duchess of Kent in 1837 and used as the basis for an engraving by F.C. Lewis (D. Millar 1995, II, no. 3244); Sir Francis Chantrey’s pencil portrait of c.1839 (NPG, London: no. 316A/126); and, most importantly, Sir Edwin Landseer’s ‘likest little sketch in oils’ (RA QVJ: 29 August 1839) showing the Queen in profile to the left (405040). The standard of execution of the present miniature is variable, with the slightly parted lips, eyes and glossy hair comparable to Ross’s usual work, but with the costume in parts unusually weak given that prowess in this area was acknowledged to be one of his distinguishing traits: ‘with respect to material, surface and character – draperies and accessories have never been brought forward with more striking truth’, wrote a critic in the Art Journal in 1849. The miniature displays Ross’s characteristic test strokes beneath the frame rebate on the obverse. The miniature is a telling indication of the way in which Queen Victoria saw herself. Presented in opposing profile to Prince Albert, she is shown as a young woman of 22, wearing a simple white dress adorned with blue bows at the bodice and the shoulders, and a gold chain, with, perhaps, the heart-shaped pendant containing a locket of Prince Albert’s hair which she wore frequently and which had been a gift from Queen Louise of the Belgians. The image lacks a single reference to the sitter's status as Queen; not even the Garter ribbon is shown in this very unassuming presentation of the monarch. She is shown here simply as loving wife, the counterpart to her handsome husband, her role as Queen entirely incidental, in a manner well-suited to this most intimate and personal of art forms.