Ever since this painting entered the museum, the sitter has traditionally been identified as Josefa Bayeu, Goya´s wife. However, the date of the painting doesn´t coincide with the age of the supposed model, as Josefa Bayeu died in 1812 at the age of sixty-five. Thus she would have been fifty years old by 1798, which is the date most historians attribute to this work. The present portrait, however, seems to depict a women in her thirties, or even younger. Moreover, some details of the clothing make it necessary to date this portrait even later, around 1812 or 1814.