The subject was traditionally identified with the French military leader Gaston of Foix, Duke of Nemours, or as a self-portrait, although there is no documentary evidence for either hypothesis.

The identification with Gaston de Foix is devoid of documentary evidence, as well as certainly improbable, since it would have been a posthumous portrait lacking the composure more suited to this purpose.

[citation needed] The painting depicts a man wearing military armor in a small room with two mirrors.

Savoldo, like Giorgione, wanted to demonstrate that painting was also capable of representing multiple views of the same subject, in the same way as sculpture, and without having to go around it.

[citation needed] The theme of light and reflections is also magnified by the metallic luster of the armor and the red velvet sleeves, which create those chromatic flashes between dense and dark shadow fields, typical of the painter's production.