About the artist:

Paul Ritter (1829-1907) was born in Nuremberg, Germany. He was deaf and dumb beginning at age four, but went on to study under the architect Karl Alexander Heideloff and make engravings for publishers in Berlin, Stuttgart, and Nuremberg. In about 1870 he took up painting in oil. In 1888, Ritter was given the prestigious title of Royal Professor. He died in Nuremberg in 1907.