[1][2] Antonietta is dressed in finery to show her noble status, but as someone who would have been ostracized because of her unusual appearance, she would have been seen as more animal than human and would not have had the same freedoms as other courtiers.

The portrait is depicts Antonietta Gonzales (nicknamed Tognina)[5] from the front, her face covered in brown hair due to her hypertrichosis.

[9] The letter, which establishes her noble birth but does not explicitly title her a courtier,[10] is positioned so that the viewer may read the biographical information written down:"Don Pietro, a wild man discovered in the Canary Islands, was conveyed to his most Serene highness Henry, the King of France, and from there came to his Excellency the Duke of Parma.

From whom came I, Antoinetta, and now I can be found nearby at the court of the Lady Isabella Pallavincina, the honorable marchesa of Soragna.”[11]Adorning Antonietta's hair are two sets of flowers.

[20] Because her condition made her physical appearance different from others, Antonietta would have been viewed more as an animal than a person and was given as a gift to Isabella Pallavicina.

[26] Unlike other courtiers, the lowborn status of the Gonzales family would not have made them a threat to the elite,[27] and because they were likened to animals, the court would have viewed them as too uncivilized to be considered human.

[28] Joris Hoefnagel included his portraits of the Gonzales family in his Animalia Rationalia et Insecta, making them the only humans to be featured in four volumes of zoological drawings.

[29] Additionally, the painting depicting the family's arrival at the court in Vienna was kept in the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II's folder of zoological drawings.

[31] Petrus' intellect impressed King Henri II and he was given an education befitting any other noble boy, including learning Latin.

[33] This is apparent in Fontana's depiction of Antonietta, which referenced the cultural beliefs about people with hypertrichosis and combined them with the family's complex personal history.