René-Antoine Houasse (around 1645–1710), the sitter in this print, was a master of the classicizing French Baroque style and one of the artists who contributed to the decoration of the chateau at Versailles. The painted portrait from which Antoine Trouvain etched this print, in fact, hung at Versailles at the time that Trouvain studied it. His transcription of the image from colour to black and white conveys the clear lighting and exacting contours of the original painting.