The portrait is of an unknown male youth, sitting at a chair, his left elbow on a table, and his head resting on his palm.

He was forced by his doctors to move to southern France from Paris, in hopes that it would improve his failing health.

[2] While there, Modigliani shifted his focus to painting unnamed, young workers, like the one portrayed in The Boy.

[1] The painting was purchased from the artist by Leopold Zborowski, a Polish-born art dealer who represented Modigliani.

The painting was bought from him in 1946, with funds given by Mrs. Julian Bobbs, in memory of William Ray Adams.