This work bears witness to the artist's great gift for portraiture from the very beginning of his career, and to his intellectual and social circle. The protagonist was not only an outstanding painter active in Seville (1564-1644), but also a notable intellectual who wrote an influential treatise on painting and edited the works of the poet, Fernando de Herrera. He was a key figure in Velasquez's training, taking the younger artist into his studio and transmitting his artistic and intellectual concerns to him. In 1618, his daughter, Juana, married the young painter.

While there has long been doubt about the identity of the model, definitive evidence has recently emerged to prove it is Pacheco.