Portrait of an astronomer, seated at a table, plotting a chart

Louis Tocqué began his artistic training in the workshop of the history painter Nicolas Bertin. In 1718, he entered the studio of renowned portraitist Jean-Marc Nattier, whose daughter he married in 1747. It was Nattier's style that had a lasting impression on Tocqué, whose portraits were recognized by his contempraries for their naturalism. He received a number of royal commissions in France, and later in St. Petersburg, where he traveled at the invitation of the Russian Chancellor, Mikhail Laronovich Vorontsov. Although the sitter of the present portrait remains unidentified, the chart on his desk appears to be a diagram representing the division of a meridian arc, indicating the sitter's expertise in the field of astronomy.