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Art historians place the work within Leonardo's first Milanese period (c. 1482–1499), due to similarities with other works from this time, including stylistic resemblances to the Lady with an Ermine found via X-ray testing, as well as the treatment of chiaroscuro in the Louvre Virgin of the Rocks, and his sketches for a bronze horse sculpture. Older sources dated the work to the middle of this period, with dates of 1485–1490 and 1490 given.Modern scholars, including Syson and Marani, have observed that Leonardo could not have executed the portrait much later than 1487, as it is considered to lack the refinement and realism of later works informed by his anatomical studies, such as the Lady with an Ermine. It was not until 1489 that Leonardo engaged in a study of human anatomy, particularly that of the skull. Because of this, the painting is now thought to have been completed earlier in the period, during the mid-1480s, usually between 1483 and 1487.
Milan first Milanese period bronze horse sculpture Louvre Lady with an Ermine chiaroscuro X-ray testing Virgin of the Rocks