This portrait was purchased by Catherine II in 1772 as part of the Crozat collection and in the anthology of prints from paintings in the collection the subject is described as "a comic actor who was in the service of the Duke of Mantua". Subsequently the identity of the man depicted in the portrait constantly intrigued researchers who put forward a variety of hypotheses. Today the most convincing argument is in favour of Tristano Martinelli, the harlequin of the Mantuan troupe (the actor is holding a harlequin mask). In 1623 the painter and the actor were both in Venice at the same time."Fetti is an artist right to the marrow and every stroke of his brush, every combination of colours contains true beauty," the noted critic Alexander Benois wrote in his 1910 guide to the Hermitage. Describing the actor's portrait as "first-class", he adds that this work is an example of "total painterly perfection, presenting Fetti as an attentive observer and artist."