Maretzek is shown in his youth, seated holding his violin and bow, in a lithograph by German artist Christian Pfann. Maretzek has inscribed and signed the portrait August 1855, the same year the portrait was made. This is an uncommon example from Maretzek's early career.

Max Maretzek was a Moravian-born composer, conductor, violinist, and impresario. He attracted the interest of von Bülow, Wagner, Liszt, Offenbach, and Strauss with two of his early operas, and played the violin in German and English orchestras before emigrating to the United States in 1848. He became the musical director at Edward P. Fry's Astor Opera House in New York City, and in the 1860s founded his own Maretzek Opera Troupe, with which he toured both the States and Latin America.