Carte-de-visite three quarter length photograph of Infanta Maria das Neves of Portugal. The subject is shown standing in three quarter view, facing towards the right of the image. In the background there is a trompe l'oeil painting of highland scenery and on the left foreground of the scene there is a studio prop resembling a rocky outcrop. Maria's dark, curly hair is arranged in a chignon beneath a beret hat and she is dressed in walking or hiking attire. She is wearing a close-fitting dark coloured jacket with Persian lamb collar, cuffs and hem and embroidered button loops. She is wearing a brooch with an attached chain on her left breast. She is also wearing a mid-coloured long skirt, gathered at the right hip. She is holding a slender walking stick in her left hand and a leather bag on her right hip.

Maria was the eldest child and daughter of exiled Miguel of Portugal and his wife Adelaide of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg. In 1871 Maria married Alfonso Carlos of Bourbon, Duke of San Jaime and the couple had an only son who died within a few hours of his birth. The couple did not have any further children.