Hans Schäufelein was active in Albrecht Dürer's Nuremburg workshop from around 1503 until 1507, working alongside him as both a painter and a designer of woodcuts. Painted in 1504, this portrait of an unidentified 24-year-old man is Schäufelein's earliest dated work. In it, he ably emulates Dürer's distinctive portrait style. A false Dürer monogram was painted on the young man's shirt at a later date.

The portrait probably commemorates the marriage of the sitter, who holds a sprig of eryngium, a spiny herb symbolic of success in love.

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