"Pedersen became a much-favoured portraitist of both Indian and European rulers, which earned him the nickname "The Rajah Painter"
- E. BENEZIT

Hugo Pedersen initially studied under Frantz Peter Henningsen at Copenhagen's Royal Academy of Fine Arts. In 1895, he travelled to Sumatra, Java, Malaysia, and Singapore, creating numerous portrait sketches later published in ‘Through the East-Indian Archipelago’. He spent time in the ‘Dutch Indies' (modern-day Indonesia) and later in India, where he continued to develop his skills as a portrait and figural painter. Pedersen became a favoured portraitist among Indian and European rulers, earning the nickname "The Rajah painter."

His figural works feature a dynamic style with strong narrative and dramatic elements. He preferred a bold, modernist colour palette, blending energetic brushwork with careful detail. During his lifetime, Pedersen achieved international acclaim, with his work widely circulated through reproductions.

A portrait by Pedersen sold at auction in 2003, identified as a Princess of the Mysore Court, bears a striking resemblance to the sitter in the present work, suggesting that she may be Princess Cheluvajammanni (1886–1936), one of the three sisters of Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV, Maharaja of Mysore (Modern-day Mysuru). While the princely courts of India had long cultivated traditions of artistic patronage, Pedersen’s commission to portray members of the Mysore royal family signals the exceptional esteem in which he was held. Such works attest not only to his technical accomplishment as a portraitist but also to his successful integration into elite colonial networks of patronage at one of the most cosmopolitan and reform-minded courts in India.

Princess Cheluvajammanni was the elder sister of Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV, whose reign transformed Mysore into a model princely state within colonial India. Celebrated for his progressive policies in education, industrial modernisation, women’s rights, and inclusive governance, the Maharaja was widely regarded as one of the most enlightened and affluent rulers of his generation. Within this context, Pedersen’s portraits of the Mysore royal family assume particular historical significance.