Born in 1837 as the son of Meyer Joseph Cahen d'Anvers and Clara Bischoffsheim (1810–1876), he was a scion of two wealthy Jewish banking families.

[1] He married Louise de Morpurgo, who was from a wealthy Sephardi Jewish family from Trieste.

Two of their daughters, Alice (1876–1965) and Elisabeth (1874–1944 KZ Auschwitz), were painted by Pierre-Auguste Renoir in Pink and Blue in 1881.

Alice married Major General Sir Charles Townshend and was the grandmother of Belgian-American journalist Arnaud de Borchgrave.

Louis was so dissatisfied with the painting that he hung it in the servants' quarters and delayed payment of only 1500 francs.