Magistrate Alexander Hendrik Metelerkamp had his portrait painted together with his wife Catharina Gerarda Johanna Verloren and their son Johannes Jacobus in the backyard of their residence at the Nieuwegracht 56 in Utrecht. Characteristic for the time is the eclecticism, the lack of individuality caused by the use of different neo-styles at the same time. It was this historicism that was hated in later periods. This stylistic diversity can be found throughout the whole painting.