[2] The painting shows a dark-skinned man in front of a deep gray background, with his upper body slightly turned to the left.

[4] The portrait makes a comparison between the anonymous model and the title character of William Shakespeare's play Othello, like if he was a modern days counterpart.

Art historian Friedrich Gross compares the current painting with the Orientalist work Baschi-Bazouk, by French academic painter Jean-Léon Gérôme, in order to highlight the differences between the two portraits of black men, especially in terms of their sensuality.

According to Gross' analysis, Corinth's portrait belongs "in the humanistic tradition of psychologically profound representations of the Negro, from Rembrandt van Rijn and Frans Hals to Géricault" to "the 'modern' realism that strives for immediate truth to life.

"[5] The painting was first owned by R. Brackl in Munich, and afterwards it passed through three different owners, the last being the Jewish couple Jean and Ida Baer, in Berlin.