Born in 1781, Alfred Chalon was the son of a Huguenot watchmake who settled in England in 1794. Alfred Chalon trained at the Royal Academy Schools and subsequently exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1801 and 1860. His first royal subject was Princess Charlotte of Wales, painted posthumously in oil (405449) and in watercolour (present location unknown) and he later became miniature painter to Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge and Portrait Painter in Watercolour to Queen Victoria (1837). Alfred and his brother John James Chalon (1778 – 1854), with whom he lived, founded the Evening Sketching Society which met weekly for almost half a century until 1851 and was the hub of the community of watercolour artists in London; its members included C.R. Leslie, Clarkson Stanfield, Thomas Uwins and Henry Pierce Bone.

The use of card as a support, the pencil underdrawing visible along the Duchess's neckline and the plentiful use of gum, particularly in the background, are all characteristic of Chalon's work. The artist reduced the area covered by the draped curtain in the background on the right. A watercolour sketch of the Duchess of Kent, signed and dated 1837, is also in the Royal Collection (913245). This miniature must date from the following year, when it was exhibited at the Royal Academy.

Signed and inscribed on the reverse in ink: H.R.H. The Duchess of Kent / Chalon