The founder of the van Loo dynasty of painters was the Dutchman, Jacob van Loo (1614-70), who was obliged to flee Amsterdam after killing someone in a pub brawl. Having settled in Paris his son, Louis Abraham, and grandsons, Jean-Baptiste and Carle-Andre (1705-65), all made successful careers in France. In addition Jean-Baptise himself had two painter sons, Louis-Michel (1707-71) and Charles-Amedee-Philippe (1719-95). Jean-Baptiste trained as a religious and mythological painter in Italy with Benedetto Luti (1666-1724), before settling in Paris in 1719. He made a brief visit to England from 1737-42, where his success as a portrait painter annoyed Hogarth so much that it provoked him into talking up portraiture himself.

This is a three-quarter length adaptation of the full-length portrait, from around 1723, at the Palace of Versailles. It was probably acquired by Queen Victoria as a pair with a portrait of Marie Leczinska, copied after Jean-Marc Nattier (RCIN 402003). The sitter wears a breastplate over his coat,a fur-lined mantle with fleur-de-lys, and the ribbon of the order of S.Esprit.