This series of paintings is based on French glass negatives that were obtained from an online dealer. All the negatives depict at least two individuals, generally seated adjacent to one another, facing the camera and in front of a conventional decorative background featuring gardens with classical columns and balustrades. Those that feature family groups preserve hierarchical relations between members with parents standing behind their offspring, or else men standing behind women and children.

Glass plate negatives were in general use by professional photographers from the 1850s to the 1920s and beyond and the images that these paintings are based on were probably made between the 1930s and 1950s.