Wilhelm Böttner trained in Kassel with Johann Heinrich Tischbein the Elder, travelling during the 1770s to Paris and Rome, where he was inspired by the work of Raphael. He was invited back in 1781 by Frederick II of Hesse-Kassel, and after a further brief stay in Paris, he worked for the rest of his life in the service of the court in Kassel, enjoying great success as a portrait and history painter.

William IX was George III's first cousin - his mother was Princess Mary (1723-72), the sister of George III's father, Frederick, Prince of Wales. He inherited the title Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel upon the death of this father in 1785 and was subsequently in 1803 granted the title of Elector of Hesse. One of the richest princes in Europe, his employment of Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744-1812) as 'Court Factor' effectively launched the fortunes of that family. Wilhelm also built in 1785 a new range of palace buildings and an English landscape garden to the Wilhelmsöhe Park in the hills above Kassel.

Böttner shows the Landgrave with his wife, Wilhelmine Caroline (1747-1820), whom he married in 1764, and their three surviving children, Wilhelm (1777-1847), Friederika (1768-1839), and Caroline (1771-1848). The family are relaxing in Wilhelmshöhe Park, with the block at the end of the new range of palace buildings, presumably under construction, visible behind them. This is a typical 'conversation piece' - an informal group portrait, with less than life size figures engaged in some activity to enliven the scene. The Margravine sits on a garden bench with her two daughters beside her, one offering her a basket of freshly-picked flowers. The Margrave and his heir stand to the left wearing blue military uniforms. An erudite classical painter, Böttner here alludes to the famous subject of the 'Choice of Hercules', in which the hero stands centrally between female allegorical figures of Virtue and Pleasure. On the left here we see the rocky path leading up to the Temple of Virtue; on the right the shady woodland of Pleasure. But this is not a moral choice, rather a contrast between two types of virtue (as understood in this era) - on the left manly endeavour and on the right the womanly gift of pleasing. Hercules appears at the summit of the Wilhelmshöhe Park, as its presiding genius, so a play on this subject is entirely appropriate.