Stipple engraving depicting the head and shoulders of a young man with European features and curly hair. He has a beard that extends to his sideburns and down his neck, with no moustache. He is turned to three-quarters view, but gazes directly at the viewer, and wears a jacket, shirt, and loose tie typical of mid-nineteenth century fashions. The lower parts of the clothing are rendered more sketchily, with loose crosshatching.
The subject, George Steers, was a designer of yachts who died in 1856, at the age of 37. He was best known for his racing yacht "America", after whom the America's Cup was named.