Carl Ferdinand Sohn (1806-67) was the father of the painter Carl Rudolph. He studied at the Academy in Berlin under Wilhelm Schadow, and in 1826, followed his master to Düsseldorf where he settled. After visiting Holland, he travelled to Italy in 1830. In 1832, he was appointed a teacher at the academy in Düsseldorf, and then a professor, in 1838. Although he mainly produced historical pictures, he was also highly regarded as a portrait painter, for reasons amply displayed this portrait, one of two by Sohn in the Royal Collection (see RCIN 405098).

Stephanie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (1837-1859) was the eldest daughter of Karl Anton, Prince of Hohenzollern, and his wife Princess Josephine of Baden. On 29th April 1858, Stephanie married King Peter V of Portugal by proxy at St Hedwig's Cathedral in Berlin. Her eldest brother Leopold stood in for the groom. The young couple were married in person on 18th May 1858, at the Church of St. Dominic in Lisbon. Having contracted diphtheria she died just a year later, in Lisbon, at the age of 22. Peter did not remarry, and died of cholera in November 1861.

In this romantic portrait the sitter appears in a a woodland setting; she is wearing a silver-striped wrap over a grey dress, with two pink camellias at the corsage, and she holds a spray of myrtle. Another version of this portrait (with notable differences), by Sohn, is in the Ajuda National Palace, Lisbon.