Portrait of Cornelia, Clara and Johanna Veth

Veth was twenty and still living at home when he portrayed his three sisters, who appear unhappy in the painting. At the time their mother was struggling with depression and would die just three years later. Although their father thought the portrait was a good likeness, he would have preferred their facial features to be slightly softer, likely referencing both the painting style and the sorrow that his daughters were experiencing.