Ernst Kaiser (1803-65) was trained by his father, the still-life painter Georg Kaiser, attended the academy in Munich, and was also taught by Friedrich Preller, with whom he went to Rome in September 1828. He remained there for a year, then returned to reside in Munich, where he first exhibited in 1836. He subsequently exhibited in Berlin, Hanover and Cologne. Kaiser began his career as a history painter, but turned to landscapes following a trip to the Bavarian Alps and the Tyrol. He was a protégé of Ludwig of Bavaria, who provided the means for a sojourn in the Styrian Alps. His landscapes are represented in collections in Hanover and Munich.

The Königssee, a lake noted for the cleanliness of its water, is in the Berchtesgadener district of the German state of Bavaria, close to the border with Austria. In this view across the Königsee the Salzkammergut mountains appear in the background. A jäger stands on a rocky promontory in the centre, looking at a flock of birds flying across the lake; its wooded shore rises up steeply to bare mountainous outcrops. On the left a bank of cloud covers the blue sky.