We know very little about Samuel Holden. He was a prolific painter of exotic plants, especially orchids, in the 1830s and 1840s. He studied most of them in the private collections of plant enthusiasts and collectors in Great Britain. He often inscribes his drawings with the names and addresses of these collections.

This plant is an unidentified example of Achimenes, a group of plants from Central and South America that are related to African Violets and Gloxinias. They belong to the family Gesneriaceae. These plants have many common names, including Magic Flower and Orchid Pansy.