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Although it has not been possible to identify this young Nobleman, the painting of his fine clothing owes much to the portraits painted by Jakob Ferdinand Voet (1639-1689). Small portraits painted in oil were not as fashionable in the late seventeenth century as they had been earlier, when artists such as Cornelius Johnson (1593-1661) were producing oil on metal images to go alongside their full-scale counterparts.

Small oil on metal portraits such as this were painted on a similar scale to the traditional watercolour on vellum portrait miniatures but had the advantage of being more robust in terms of light damage. Rather than worn on the body, these small portraits appear to have been hung on the wall or enclosed in cases. The small scale allowed for less expression than oils on a larger scale, but this example has retained the fluidity in the drapery found in full-size portraits.