Juho Forsell b.1853, originally Juho Mäkynen, was a Finnish-born painter who in 1884 changed his name to Forssell and emigrated to the United States, where he also died in 1939.
Mäkynen studied painting at the University of Helsinki under Adolf von Becker.
At the urging of Albert Edelfelt and with a state scholarship, Mäkynen went to Antwerp, Belgium, to continue his studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts from 1876 to 1879.
Two years later, Mäkynen went to Paris to study under Carolus-Duran. Soon Mäkynen participated in his first public art exhibition and received good reviews. Around this time, he painted the altarpiece of the church of Akaa, The Transfiguration of Christ. He also painted an altarpiece for the church in Hauho (Jesus in Gethsemane, 1883).

According to given information, this portrait depicts Baron Pierre de Coubertin (1863-1937) after a fencing practice.