Ippolito trained with his father Ottavio, and like him specialized in drawn portraits. He joined the Accademia di San Luca before 1627 and in 1651 became regent of the Congregazione dei Virtuosi del Pantheon.
The drawing includes a number of characteristics typical of self-portraits: the right arm, reversed by the mirror, is unfinished and the expression of the sitter is as if he were looking into a mirror.