In this portrait, the lauded painter of portraits and historical subjects Carl van Loo sketches on a large sheet of paper. The decision to depict him in the act of drawing is an allusion to the highly studied process that produced the precise manner and correct design for which he was famed. Ignaz Sebastian Klauber, of German origin, also pays tribute to the premier institution for the arts in France, the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, by portraying its director.