Velázquez most likely executed this portrait of his enslaved assistant in Rome during the early months of 1650. According to one of the artist's biographers, when this landmark of western portraiture was first put on display it "received such universal acclaim that in the opinion of all the painters of different nations everything else seemed like painting but this alone like truth." Months after depicting his sitter in such a proud and confident way, Velázquez signed a contract of manumission that would liberate him from bondage in 1654. From that point forward, Juan de Pareja worked as an independent painter in Madrid.