Winterhalter painted a lot of beautiful women, and one very sexy portrait of Queen Victoria.

Franz Xaver Winterhalter was a German painter who originally trained as a lithographer and draughtsman. His technical mastery is evident in the smooth, detailed execution of his paintings. Surprisingly, given his training, he didn't sketch his works beforehand, choosing instead to compose directly on the canvas. This allowed him to produce portraits quickly, an asset for a portraitist as popular as he was. His ability to render both perfect, alabaster complexions and the intricacies of high-end ballgowns and court dress made him in-demand throughout the courts of Europe. The style of his works is difficult to place in a neat timeline of art history. Even though his works spans the periods of Romanticism and Realism, some art historians have described his work as "neo-rococo", a somewhat pejorative description that led to his work being largely ignored in the pantheon of "great art" until recently.

His list of art works reads as a veritable who's-who of the mid 19th century. Empress Eugénie of France was a particular fan, and it seems the admiration was mutual, as Winterhalter loved the chance to paint beautiful women in sumptuous dresses. His most famous work depicts the Empress seated in a forest, surrounded by her ladies in waiting, all dressed in a rainbow of lace and ribbon-bedecked dresses. He also painted members of the Spanish royal family, among others, as well as Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico. 

It's easy to see how many of his portraits, despite his careful attention to the clothing, pose, and personality of his sitters, might blend together into a giant pastel collage of lace and silk. One portrait however stands out from the rest. His 1843 portrait of Queen Victoria, commissioned by Victoria herself as a gift to her husband and Prince Consort Albert, is really far outside the norm for portraits of royalty at this time. Victoria and Albert famously loved to bone down (they had 9 children in 17 years), and this sexy (for the times) picture was hung in Albert's private library and was his "very favorite picture," according to the queen. Think of it as an early sexy selfie.