Taken from a song sheet cover, this portrait, possibly identified as 'Lady Flora Hastings' on Alamy by other similar pictures, is a Lithograph print with an ornate frame. 

The framed picture measures 31cm in height and 26cm in width.  Mounted onto card, the portrait print has been placed into an intricately decorated brass coloured frame.

About the picture

In the Victorian era, whence this picture was printed, traders and contractors signed their work with their name and job title instead of the artists name being added.  For this print, Frederic Alvey has signed it as F. Alvey, Contractor, 128 London Road.

Frederic Alvey ran his Lithographic & Copper Plate Print shop from 1837 - 1847 (information taken from British Map Engravers, https://britishmapengravers.net/entries/a-entries/frederick-alvey/)

To show their status in society, song sheet covers were often cut out, framed and placed on top of the square pianos in parlours where everyone would gather to sing.  The covers often depicted a fine art picture/portrait of the target audience, instead as they do now, an illustration of the song content.

The illustrated front pages were considered high-art masterpieces in their own right and much more affordable than the art from a gallery.

The title at the bottom of the page 'Poor Young Man' indicates that the music score and lyrics inside would have been a Comic Parlour/Music Hall song or ballad about a young man declaring his love for a sweetheart of high society and his difficulties resulting from this.

Lady Flora Hastings 1806 - 1839 (if this is her) a British aristocrat and lady-in-waiting to Queen Victoria's mother, the Duchess of Kent, was, in early 1839 involved in a scandal in Queen Victoria's court.

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