Israel Tobiason was born in England in 1797. He married Amelia Levine in the United States in the 1820s. Israel and Amelia lived in Philadelphia where they raised their six children. Their daughter, Esther, was born in 1835. Esther married Adolph Wasserman, who was born in Germany (1823-1894) and gave birth to seven children, all of the whom were raised in Philadelphia and were active in Mikveh Israel Congregation. The portraits of Israel and Amelia with their daughter, Esther, were probably painted around the 1840s.