Albert Sterner was born in London to American parents. He started his artistic training at the Art Institute in Birmingham and continued his studies under Gustave Boulanger, Jules Lefebvre, and Jean-Léon Gérôme at the Académie Julian in Paris. In 1879, Sterner went to America, working initially as a lithographer and draughtsman in Chicago. In 1885, he founded his own workshop in New York and in 1907 was appointed chairman of the Society of Illustrators. In 1934, Sterner became a member of the National Academy of Design.

Sterner’s extensive work for the press included Harper's, Quiver, Pick-me-up, English Illustrated, Black and White, Life, and Scribner's. He illustrated many literary works including L'ennui, Madame! by D. Meunier, Prue and I by G.W. Curtis and Fenwick's Career by Mrs Ward. He exhibited in Paris at the Salon des Artistes Français, winning an award in 1891 and a bronze medal in 1900 at the Universal Exhibition as well as a gold medal in Munich in 1905. Sterner’s work can be found in many US and international museums.

Fitzroy Carrington (1869 – 1954) was an English-born American editor who became known as a leading authority on prints, particularly those of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Born in England he moved to the United States in 1886.

From 1892 to 1913 he worked closely with Frederick Keppel & Co., the New York print dealers founded in 1868, and joined the firm after 1899. From 1911-1917 he was editor of The Print Collector’s Quarterly. In 1912 he became curator of prints at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He published several books about prints and print collecting.

The elegant subject of this drawing is his wife, Charlotte Austen Carrington, née Singleton. The couple had a son Harold, born in 1900.