This double portrait depicts the two sisters, Juliana Maria (1729-96) on the left, sitting on the red chair, and Theresa Natalia (1728-78) on the right with a small dog on her lap, on the green chair. Theresa Natalia is wearing the blue ribbon and cross of the Order of Gandersheim and the star of Catherine of Russia on a red and white striped ribbon. They were the daughters of Albrecht, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.

Queen Juliana married Frederick V of Denmark as his second wife in 1752. From 1772 until 1784, after the breakdown of the marriage of her stepson, King Christian VII of Denmark, and his increasing mental instability, she effectively ruled Denmark with her own son, Prince Frederick. She also founded the porcelain factory known today as Royal Copenhagen.

Theresa Natalia became abbess of Gandersheim, Germany, in 1767. The abbey was a community of unmarried daughters from noble families, who were not under monastic vows. Her portrait here is a smaller variation of another miniature of her in the Royal Collection (RCIN 420576).

In 1767, George III bought 'twenty or more Miniature or colour'd drawings copied from the German of the House of Brunswick' and this miniature was among them. The identity of the artist is unknown.

Inscribed on the back in pencil: Braunschweig.