Carte-de-visite three quarter length photograph of Princess Clotilde of Austria (1846-1927) on the right of the image and her daughter Archduchess Maria Dorothea of Austria (1867-1932) on the left of the image. Both subjects are shown in three quarter view, facing towards the right of the image. A photograph album rests open on Clotilde's lap and she gestures towards a photograph with her left hand. Her hair is waved and arranged in a chignon and she is wearing drop earrings and an oval locket, decorated with a star on a heavy chain around her neck. She is wearing a jewelled band ring on her wedding finger. She is wearing a dark coloured silk dress with a white lace collar and cuffs. She places her right arm around her daughter's waist. Archduchess Maria Dorothea is wearing a pale coloured tiered dress, trimmed with lace. She holds her hands out towards the album.

Princess Clotilde was the third child and eldest daughter of Prince Augustus of Saxe Coburg and Gotha and Princess Clémentine, daughter of Louis-Philippe, King of France. In 1864 she married Archduke Joseph Karl of Austria and the couple had two sons and five daughters. Maria Dorothea was their second eldest daughter.