Lorenzo Quaglio (1793-1869) was the third son and student of Giuseppe Quaglio. He studied at the Academy in Munich, and worked for a few years, until 1812, as a theatre decorator. He travelled through the Bavarian and Tyrolean Alps, producing a study of Bavarian folk costume in 1820. His output as a lithographer includes reproductions of a number of paintings at the gallery in Munich.

The ruined Schloss Stolzenfels, on the banks of the Rhine, was presented to Friedrich Wilhelm, then Crown Prince of Prussia, by the city of Koblenz in 1823. Restoration was begun in 1836 to the designs of Karl Friedrich Schinkel, and was substantially complete by 1842, with neo-Gothic furniture by Johann Wilhelm Vetter. On their first night there, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert dined in the Great Knights’ Hall, surrounded by armour and a collection of early ceramics and glass. Friedrich Wilhelm subsequently commissioned a set of watercolours as a souvenir for Victoria, including six views of Schloss Stolzenfels by Carl Graeb (RCIN 920418 - 920423).

In this depiction two ladies, a man and a dog are seated in in the castle grounds ; two armed sentries stand guard on the battlements , dominated by a tall tower; below, an extensive view across the Rhine. According to an inventory of 1876, the figures in the foreground are 'intended to represent the Queen, the Prince Consort, &c.'