Hubert von Herkomer (1849-1914) was born in Germany. Herkomer moved to England with his family and studied at Southampton School of Art, the Munich Academy and the South Kensington Art School, where he was influenced by the work of Frederick Walker. After he left school, Herkomer started his career as an illustrator, and he published a large number of his drawings on the magazine called the Graphic magazine. Later several of his engravings appeared on the magazine were reworked as large-scale oil paintings. In 1880s Herkomer started to focus on portraiture. In 1899, Herkomer was ennobled as “Ritter von Herkomer” by king Otto of Bavaria; the same year, Kaiser Wilhelm II awarded him the “Pour le Mérite” (order of merit). In 1907, he was knighted by King Edward VII.