[1][2] The portrait is in oil on panel, probably from 1513 to 1514, and is by the Italian High Renaissance painter and architect Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino better known simply as Raphael.

The facial features are perceived by specialists as compatible with, if not clearly identical to, the only undoubted self-portrait by Raphael in his fresco The School of Athens at the Vatican, identified as such by Vasari.

The textural details of a flesh-colored wall, sable fur, and wavy dark hair not only strike a Neo-Classical, sensitive balance between real humanity and nature, but they also extend gestures seen in previous female hand placement to stress man's role as a well-travelled humanist.

It is probable that Raphael's studious approach to the idealized representation of human proportion was based on his studies of ancient athletic and military heroes in Classical sculpture such as Doryphoros and Augustus of Prima Porta.

The painting was brought to Poland, along with Leonardo da Vinci's Lady with an Ermine and many Roman antiquities, by Prince Adam George Czartoryski, son of Princess Izabela Czartoryska, on his travels to Italy in 1798.

[12] However, in the summer of 2012 a false report about the painting's rediscovery appeared in popular media, attributed to an alleged statement made by a representative of the Polish Foreign Minister for the restitution of cultural property.

Soon afterward, the ministry spokesman explained in a public announcement that there are no new leads in regard to the whereabouts of the artwork; affirming their confidence in its express return to Poland once it is indeed found.

It is shown as a prominent painting in a large cache of stolen art stored in an unidentified cave or mine that German troops set on fire with flamethrowers.

The National Geographic Channel TV series Hunting Nazi Treasure explores the potential suspects of the theft of artwork in the episode 'Missing masterpiece'.