Otto Christopher Baron von der Howen was a military man, born in Mittau (Kurland), originally in the Russian army, falling in disgrace, he enlisted in 1799 in the Dutch Batavian army, became adjutant to King Louis Napoleon of Holland and was in Spain between 1811 and 1814. Between During the Belgian rising of 1830, he defended the city of Mons, but was defeated and became a prisoner.

In the Netherlands he was appointed lieutenant-general of the Dutch army and in 1831 city commander of Nijmegen (Netherlands) which he remained until 1839. There he stayed until his death. Howen was a skilled artist, (watercolor) painter, draftsman, lithographer and illustrator. In 1826 he stayed in Egypt during a military campaign, where he made (as usual) a great number of drawings, after which De Koningh executed these lithographs.