Anne of Denmark was the second daughter of King Frederick II of Denmark and she married, in 1589, King James VI of Scotland, who became King James I of England on the death of Queen Elizabeth I. She bore him three children who survived beyond infancy, the eldest of whom, Frederick, Prince of Wales, died from typhoid aged eighteen. Her second son succeeded to the throne as King Charles I and her daughter, Princess Elizabeth, married Frederick, Elector Palatine, later Frederick V, King of Bohemia.

Queen Anne was a patron of the arts and played a key role in the development of the court masque. Shortly after James I's ascension to the throne and their subsequent move to England, the queen commissioned and performed in six masques at Hampton Court Palace and Whitehall between 1604 and 1611. Written by Samuel Daniel and Ben Jonson, the design of the masques fell to Inigo Jones, whom the queen also employed for various architectural projects. She also enjoyed music and dancing, poetry, literature, and learned to speak Italian. She expanded the Royal Collection through acquisitions and commissions to artists such as Paul van Somer, Daniel Mytens, and Isaac Oliver.

Apprenticed under Nicholas Hilliard, Isaac Oliver became official court painter to Anne of Denmark in 1604, whilst James I remained loyal to Hilliard. Oliver became a member of the household of Henry Prince of Wales, whom Oliver painted. He also painted their daughter, Princess Elizabeth, and her husband Frederick, Elector Palatine, later King of Bohemia (see G. Reynolds, The Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Miniatures in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, London, 1999, pp. 89-97).