This portrait on silk was produced as a souvenir of the Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind (1820-1887) who took London by storm after her first appearance at Her Majesty's Opera House on 4 May 1847 as Alice in Meyerbeer's opera Robert Il Diavolo. Queen Victoria attended that performance and wrote in her journal that Jenny Lind was: 'absolutely perfection' and 'a complete triumph.' 'She has a most exquisite, powerful, and really quite peculiar voice, so round soft and flexible and her acting is charming and touching and very natural. Her appearance was very ladylike and sweet and though she is not beautiful, she has a fine tall figure, is very graceful, has fine blue eyes and fine fair hair. The storm of applause when she first appeared, and during the singing of her first air, was tremendous. Her singing of 'Quand je quittais la Normandie' was charming and elicited two encores. Her acting throughout was truly touching and heart thrilling. At the conclusion of the Opera Jenny Lind was called before the curtain three times being received with cheers and waving of handkerchiefs.'

Jenny Lind trained in Stockholm and Paris and made her début in 1844 in Berlin, performing in Germany and Austria before making her London début. She became such a phenomenon in London that her portrait was reproduced on all manner of items, from snuff boxes and matchboxes to soap and candle snuffers. The contemporary song' Jenny Lind Mania' celebrated the craze for her, starting: 'Oh! Is there not a pretty fuss, In London all around, About the Swedish Nightingale, The talk of London town, Each square and street as through you pass, Aloud its praises ring, About this pretty singing bird, The famous Jenny Lind.'

This print was engraved from a portrait by the contemporary artist H. Gubbins and produced by George Baxter (1804-1867) who was granted a patent in 1835 for his 'Baxter Prints', a method of printing to produce coloured steel plate, copper plate and other impressions, mixing intaglio and relief printing processes. His original patent ran for fourteen years, after which it was renewed in 1849 for a further five years.