* François-André Vincent Paris 1746 - 1816

After studying with Joseph-Marie Vien in Paris Vincent had won the much-coveted Prix de Rome in 1768, remaining as a pupil in the École Royale des Élèves Protégés until July 1771 when he was installed as a pensionnaire in the Palais Mancini, Rome. During his Roman sojourn Vincent drew and painted a large number of portraits, both of his fellow students and Italian aristocrats (such as Monseigneur Ruffo in 1775). This portrait dates from a time in which Vincent's portraits are particularly close to Jean-Honoré Fragonard's, largely due to the latter's presence in Rome and Naples from December 1773 to June 1774.

Fragonard was in Rome accompanying Pierre-Jacques-Onésyme Bergeret de Grancourt.  Bergeret was Chief collector of the Treasury Subdivision of Montauban, as well as one of the wealthiest men in France. On Bergeret’s arrival in the Eternal City he immediately began to form relationships with the young artists at the Académie.  He is recorded as having sat to Vincent on March 12, 1774.  That portrait is now in the Musée des Beaux-arts de Besançon.

The present painting, probably depicting another artist, was painted by Vincent whilst attending the Académie de France in Rome, from 1771 to 1775. The intimacy of the pose and the style costume strongly suggest that he is most likely a fellow pensionnaire at the Académie.  Artists such as Suvée, Lemonier, Canovas, Peyron, Cesar van Loo, and Joseph Vernet are but a few of the artists recorded as having sat to Vincent.