This portrait was probably painted as part of a marital pair, in which both husband and wife are show seated on opposite ends of the same distinctive sofa, their poses mirroring one another. Facing slightly to the right, the blue-eyed gentleman looks up from reading a letter. He wears his brown hair combed to the side, a high black stock and waistcoat with a white shirt, and a watch fob painted in gold powder. As is characteristic of Aramenta Dianthe Vail’s work, the sitter’s face and head are given prominence, rendered disproportionally larger than his hands and body.

Vail was probably a self-taught artist, but her engaging characterizations and clever use of props—many of them illuminated by gold powder—demonstrate considerable skill. Contradictory records exist for her birth date. A resident of New Jersey and then New York, Vail exhibited at the National Academy of Design, the Apollo Association, and the Brooklyn Art Association. She listed herself as a "painter artist" as late as the 1880 census, and she appears to have remained single, supporting herself professionally and either living alone or with members of her extended family.