Four original stereopticon images of the great pianist, shown in elegant dress, and presented in two small, decoratively embossed yellow mats. Although the images are clearly from the same sitting, the verso of each mat bears a different handwritten date (April 5, 1870 and August 17, 1870).

The stereopticon was a primitive slide projector, known sometimes as a "magic lantern", that projected detailed, photographic images on the wall and became a popular form of entertainment in the second half of the nineteenth century. People would pay a small fee to watch stereopticon projections of nature, history, science, and prominent figures. Because the photographs were sometimes ordered to tell a story and appeared to "dissolve" when one image changed to the next, the technology is today thought to be a forerunner of film.

The Venezuelan pianist Teresa Carreño was one of only a handful of students taken on by Louis Moreau Gottschalk. Though the elder pianist was generally skeptical of prodigies, he made an exception for Carreño and became intent upon her success. She went on to enjoy an internationally acclaimed career, earning the nickname "Valkyrie of the Piano", and composing over seventy works.

It is not often remembered today that Carreño was also a singer of some note. At roughly the time of these photographs, in fact, she was taking vocal lessons with Rossini in Paris.