This three-quarter-length portrait shows Ada Galsworthy seated and in profile. In 1905 Ada married the noted playwright John Galsworthy, famous in particular for his Forsyte Saga. Ada had previously been married to Galsworthy's cousin, Arthur, and it has often been thought that the unhappiness of Irene and Soames Forsyte that Galsworthy wrote about was based on this first marriage.

The artist, Georg Sauter, was born in Bavaria and studied the arts at the Royal Academy in Munich. He moved to London in 1895 for a period of 20 years before moving abroad again. He was also the brother-in-law of Ada.