Carmontelle was an amateur artist working in the circle of the Duke of Orléans (at that time, Louis Philippe d'Orléans, great-grandson of Monsieur, the brother of Louis XIV). Hundreds of the artist's drawn portraits survive, most of them similar to this one in format and technique. Carmontelle had an official appointment in the Orléans household as tutor to the Duke's son. Because of this, he met many of the most prominent men and women in France, whom he drew for his own amusement. The family in this drawing is identifiable because of another drawing of them by Carmontelle, now in the Musée Condé, in Chantilly (near Paris).