François Jouvenet, born into a family of highly-respected artists, studied in Paris, and eventually established himself as a portraitist of considerable reputation. The sitter in this portrait, Antoine Coysevox, was a sculptor employed at the Court of Louis XIV who also served as director of the French Academy from 1702 to 1705. This painting was one of a pair that Jouvenet presented as his diploma paintings for acceptance into the French Academy in 1701.