Known to moviegoers as Grace Kelly, the elegant heroine of High Noon and To Catch a Thief, Princess Grace of Monaco began her acting career on Broadway. In 1951, she made her film debut, and practically from the start, she was a star of the first magnitude, acclaimed as much for her cool beauty as for her acting ability. In 1954, her portrayal of a nagging wife in The Country Girl won her an Academy Award. Two years later, she gave up her career to marry Prince Ranier III of Monaco in a ceremony that became one of the most thoroughly covered news events of the 1950s.

Sculptor Kees Verkade created this portrait, working from a combination of photographs and his own memories of meetings with Princess Grace before her death. The likeness was later the model for a full-length statue in the Princess Grace Memorial Rose Garden in Monaco.