Born in Amsterdam, Nicolaes Eliaszoon, who went under the name of Pickenoy, painted large group and individual portraits. He boasted a highly precise style and an impeccable use of chiaroscuro, as seen in this board, complying with the conventions of the first half of the 1600s. The fact that he was active at the same time as artists of the stature of Frans Hals (1580/85-1666) and Rembrandt (1606-1669) may be partly responsible for the fact that his work did not receive the recognition it deserves.
Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez claimed that there are no objective reasons to prevent us from attributing this work to Pickenoy, nor is there any indication that would suggest otherwise.
Although back in 1979 Matías Díaz Padrón considered it a self-portrait of the artist, probably due to the inclusion of the work in the bank inventories as such, in 1991 Julián Gállego maintained that this assertion was impossible because, in 1623, the date of the painting, the artist, who was born around 1588, would be only thirty four years old and not the elderly gentleman of seventy years noted in the inscription: Etatis. Sua. 70 / Anº 1623.
The sobriety of the stern attire with frilled , somewhat old-fashioned for the time when the work is dated, makes us wonder whether he might be a man of letters, perhaps a theologian or a lawyer, as has been suggested before. All our attention is focused on the noble head with its fine features, thin greying hair and thick moustache over a narrow beard.