In keeping with Brown’s approach to portraiture, this work depicts psychological states marked by intensity, contradiction and tension. The composition is distinguished by thick, swirling lines encircling the head, which communicate a sense of turbulence and restlessness, implying that the figure is subject to overwhelming forces. Brown’s figures frequently avoid direct eye contact with the viewer, which imparts an air of detachment and unknowability.

Drawing upon Man in a Headdress with a Plume (c. 1640) by Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (1609-1664), Brown integrates this composition with the palette of Three Cherubs and a Beribboned Staff (1750) by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770).