Friedrich Staudinger was the son of the master tanner Ignaz Staudinger and his second wife Marie, née Schöpfer. Ignaz set up a tannery in the suburbs of Graz which was expanded and modernised in the 1860s by his sons Ferdinand and Friedrich. They married the daughters of Johann Baptist Burgstaller, a Trieste wholesaler, sisters Elisabetta and Giovanina Burgstaller. In 1872, the Maribor Company was founded, combining Kleinschuster's shoe factory and the Staudinger leather factory, but the company collapsed after the Vienna stock market crash in 1873.
The Staudinger's entrusted Eduard Lind with the restoration of their older paintings several times, and also commissioned two portraits of their children, as well as another portrait pair and a painting titled The Four Seasons.
Seidl served in the military from 1844 to 1860, first as a lieutenant and then as a captain after 1859. After retiring from the army, he focused on a political career. His wife Katharina came from a wealthy tanning family in Maribor. The Grubers owned a tannery at what was formerly 9 Dravska ulica, which was demolished during the construction of the new bridge between 1910 and 1912. Seidl also served as mayor for many years in Kamnica near Maribor, where he owned property.
