The portrait of Princess Luise of Hesse-Darmstadt was made before her engagement to Carl August of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. She married the duke when she was 18 and went to Weimar shortly before Goethe arrived there. The Darmstadt court painter Strecker portrays the princess in a clear, almost austere manner, but absolutely leaves the young woman her soft, still youthful features. With the Order of Saint Catherine, he includes a reference to the family relationship with the tsar’s court.