Stecher first studied painting and music in Karlsruhe, Germany. Afterwards he moved to Paris where he did figures for stained glass windows and painted watercolours. Later in life Stecher claimed that in Paris he had been visited by and played organ for Napoleon III, and also had befriended Realist artists like Rosa Bonheur and Jean-François Millet. In 1874 he moved to New York where he designed all the windows for Church of [the Transfiguration, Episcopal (Manhattan)|Church of the Transfiguration in Manhattan]. Stecher appears to have worked for lithographic company. In 1885 a painting executed by Stecher, and designed by Theodore Schumacher became an object of a copyright lawsuitSchumacher v Schwencke. 5 years before his death Stecher moved with his son to Wichita in Kansas, where he continued painting into his 90s. In Wichita he made a reputation as a portrait artist, but also as a painting and book collector with wide interests. He is buried in Old Mission Cemetery in Wichita.