A young Gentleman, facing left in pale green silk coat with silver buttons, white waistcoat and cravat, powdered wig en queue, holding a book in his right hand, seated in a purple upholstered chair, beside a bust of Jean-Jacques Rousseau

The present miniature is an interesting document to the cult devoted to Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) in pre-Revolutionary France. A political philosopher, educationist and author, he had become by the time of his death, the personification of enlightenment under Louis XV and Louis XVI.