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The French painter Valentin de Boulogne was a member of the first generation of Caravaggio followers in Rome.  In this, his only known portrait, Valentin provides a superb characterization of an arrogant and rather unsavory character. 

Rafaello Menicucci, a jester attached to the court of Pope Urban VIII, was a notorious social climber who was obsessed with the idea of his own fame. Nicknamed "Count," Menicucci holds a drawing of a fortified tower inscribed "Castle of the Count" in his honor.

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This portrait by Valentin de Boulogne depicts Rafaello Menicucci, the notorious jester of Pope Urban VIII Barberini (ruled 1623–44). Nicknamed Conte, “Count,” Menicucci holds a paper depicting an old castle seemingly named Rocca del Conte in his honor. The castle was not an actual possession of his, but a joke aimed at avid, vain men with pretensions to aristocratic status. The target of Menicucci’s satire may have been Urban VIII, who took possession of the medieval town of Casteldurante in 1631 and renamed it Urbania, after himself. Another target may have been the pope’s nephew Taddeo Barberini, who became “prince of Palestrina” after purchasing that principality in 1630 with Church funds.

Born in France, Valentin arrived in Rome shortly after Caravaggio’s death and worked in a modified version of Caravaggio’s dark, unidealized style, even as other French artists in Rome evolved toward a more classical aesthetic. He enjoyed the patronage of the Barberini circle, including another papal nephew, Cardinal Francesco Barberini, who was politically allied with France. In 1661, Valentin’s portrait of Menicucci was recorded in the inventory of Jules Mazarin, the Italian-born minister of France. It was probably displayed in the great library assembled for Mazarin by Gabriel Naudé, whose 1627 treatise on libraries recommends portraits as appropriate decoration.

Blame me not, Sir, though I bark harsh!
—Menicucci to Urban VIII, supposedly, in a political satire published in London in 1642