Carte-de-visite half length photograph of Prince Karl of Hesse, in a vignette format. The subject is shown standing in three quarter view, facing towards the left of the image, with his head turned towards the viewer. He has receding hair and a mutton chop beard. He is wearing a white shirt with a stand up collar, a black silk bow tie, a mid-coloured waistcoat fastened with a row of gilt buttons and a mid-coloured double-breasted frock coat.

Karl was the second son of Grand Duke Louis II of Hesse and Wilhelmine of Baden. In 1836 he married Princess Elisabeth of Prussia and the couple had four children.