Lot Essay
The present drawing is thought to be a preparatory study for Phillip's oil painting The Marriage of the Princess Royal, 25 January 1858 in the Royal Collection. Princess Alice appears on the far right of the picture, just to the left of Princess Mary of Cambridge. The Princess Royal married Prince Frederick William of Prussia in the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace and a full account of the wedding was published in The Times the following day. This drawing of Princess Alice bears greater similarity to the preliminary oil study now at Hinton Ampner (National Trust), than to the finished oil. The final painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1860, no. 58.