Prince Albert is shown standing by a chair against a classical background in a pose reminiscent of formal full-scale portraiture of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He stands in evening dress with the ribbon and star of the Order of the Garter, the badge of the Order of the Bath and the star of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem; his pose is both stately and regal as befits a Prince Consort. Ross has chosen to place his hand resting on a book which serves to remind the viewer of the Prince’s intellectual and aesthetic interests.