A Room in the Reuss Palace, Dresden

A young man and older woman, presumed to be the present artist and his mother, are seated at a table laden with books, paintbrushes and a potted plant. A folding screen hung with unframed drawings is behind them, while their faithful dog observes them from the left. The walls are hung with blue and ochre striped wallpaper; windows, curtained in white muslin trimmed with fringe, are on either side of a pier mirror; and the floor is of parquet in a diagonal design. The decoration and furniture are English, popular in Germany in the mid-nineteenth century.