Jan Lievens was born in Leiden, where he was trained by Joris van Schooten. He then trained in Amsterdam with Pieter Lastman. In the 1620s Lievens was active in Leiden, where he collaborated and shared a studio with Rembrandt van Rijn from about 1626 to 1631. In Constantijn Huygens’ assessment, Lievens was more inventive, yet less expressive than Rembrandt. The two men split in 1631, when Rembrandt moved to Amsterdam and Lievens to England. In 1656 Rembrandt still owned paintings by his former friend. In 2022, a long-lost missing drawing by Lievens (last seen at auction in Frankfurt in 1888) was rediscovered and auctioned by Christopher Bishop Fine Art for €1.35 million at TEFAF Maastricht.

The artwork is typical of the style of the Dutch Master and has previously been exhibited at the Fresno Metropolitan museum of art (1983).