Abraham Cowley was one of the leading poets of the 17th century and his career started around the age of ten with his poems 'Pyramus and Thisbe'. Des Granges also began his career at a young age. By 1628 he was working as an engraver and miniature painter. The earliest dated miniature by him, of Catherine Manners, Duchess of Buckingham, is dated 1639, and a signed miniature of an unknown gentleman circa 1625-30 is in the Victoria and Albert Museum (see J. Murdoch, Seventeenth Century English Miniatures in the Collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1997, illustrated p. 90).

The identification of the sitter is uncertain as Cowley is depicted in most portraits with fair hair. A painting by Sir Peter Lely, circa 1666/67, is in the National Portrait Gallery, London (NPG4215).