Recto: a watercolour showing two highlanders in the foreground by the water's edge; rain clouds to the left. Verso: inscribed in a later hand and dated.

Leitch taught Queen Victoria watercolour painting and made views for her Souvenir Albums. The Queen grew extremely fond of ‘dear old Mr Leitch’. This view of a walk on the Balmoral estate is one of a number painted by the artist for the Queen, who herself adopted Leitch’s patient method of layering watercolour to achieve the desired effect.

Text adapted from Victoria & Albert: Art & Love, London, 2010