Born in the French town of Lille in 1623, Wallerant Vaillant moved to Antwerp in 1637 where he was a pupil of the history painter Erasmus Quellinus ll (1607-1678). In 1647 he is recorded in the Middelburg Guild of St. Luke and in 1652 Vaillant moved to Amsterdam. From 1656 onward he was working in Frankfurt-am-Main where he was principally active as a draughtsman and mezzotint producer, portraying the local nobility and gentry.

Around 1662 Vaillant moved back to Amsterdam where this hitherto unknown Portrait of a Young Boy was painted in 1670. At this time Vaillant was also the court painter to Prince Willem Friso, Stadtholder of Friesland. The young sitter’s distant side ward gaze, realistic presentation, and psychological intensity recall many of Michael Sweerts’ bust length portraits, with whom Vaillant would have been well aware by 1670 following Sweerts’ return to the Low Countries from Rome in 1656.