The little girl in this painting has been traditionally identified as Arabella, the daughter and co-heir of Sir Samuel Astry of Henbury, Gloucestershire, who married Charles William, 7th Earl of Suffolk and 2nd Earl of Bindon (1693-1721-2). There were no children of the marriage, and they both died very young, the title reverting to Charles' Uncle Edward, who succeeded as 8th Earl. Scipio Africanus died on 21 December 1720, aged 18, and although there is no record of his christening or death in the Parish register, he is buried in the churchyard of the Norman church of Saint Mary at Henbury in Avon, with the inscription on the headstone:

"I who was born a Pagan and a slave
Now sweetley sleep, a Christian, in my grave,
What though my hue was dark:
My Saviour's sight
Shall change this darkness into radiant light.
Such grace to me my lord on earth has given;
To recommend me to my Lord in Heaven,
Whose glorious second coming here I wait,
With saints and angels Him to celebrate."

The date of the painting, however, to the 1620s, suggests that it is of another sitter, possibly an earlier member of the Suffolk family.