As a Princess, Victoria had her first drawing lesson at the age of eight from the portrait and history painter Richard Westall. Her early love of painting and drawing endured throughout her life; the Royal Collection holds 56 sketchbooks alone that belonged to the Queen, as well as numerous other finished works in different media.

Queen Victoria particularly enjoyed working in watercolours and this sheet was most likely executed when she was in her late twenties during one of the many lessons she took in watercolours with a variety of leading artists, including Edward Lear and William Leighton Leitch.