Similarly to the Portrait of a Lady, by Carreño de Miranda, and Don Juan González de Uzqueta, by anonymous artist—both in the BBVA Collection— this canvas comes from the Convento de las Carmelitas Descalzas in Boadilla del Monte, and they all depict members of the same family, which founded and then supported this institution.

At first, it was thought that the lady, who is depicted wearing the fashions of the 1670s, was the mother of the youth, but the age of the latter, who was sixteen years old (ETATIS SUAE 16 AÑOS) around the time the painting was made, which Pérez Sánchez dates between 1645-50, rules out this assumption. Perhaps this portrait was made to commemorate his induction into the Order of Santiago, but it is also possible that the crosses were added at a later time. Either way, there is mention of Juan as a knight of the Order of Santiago in 1636, and Ismael Gutiérrez Pastor points out that the pose of the youth in the painting resembles the one used by Velázquez in the portraits of Prince Balthasar Charles from around 1640.

The , a thin collar, in a style that retains echoes of tenebrism, was worn during the reign of Philip IV (1621-1640) and the beginning of the reign of Charles II (1661-1700), and is the fashion sported by the youth in the portrait. The cross of the Order of Santiago is embroidered on his sober black clothing and his short cape, made of the same material.