Charles Hofmann was born in Germany circa 1820 and came to America via New York City in 1860. He lived in various places along the Schuylkill River and was often recorded at the various almshouses in the area between 1865 and 1881.

He is one of three well-known Pennsylvania almshouse painters. The other two are Louis Mader and John Rasmussen. According to the National Gallery of Art, there are about seventeen paintings and three watercolors of almshouses created by Hofmann. All of them are along the Schuylkill River in Berks and Montgomery Counties. Hofmann is believed to be a trained lithographer. The decorative boarder and lettering in his oil paintings are similar to the type of print found in many lithographs at that time.

Hofmann was admitted to the Berks County Almshouse in November 1881 with a broken arm. He died five months later in 1882 and is buried in their cemetery.