The artist’s eldest son, Jean-Antoine de Troy (born 1669), entered the Order of the Feuillants and it is likely that this portrait represents the head of the Order with Jean-Antoine as a young man. Jean-Antoine left for Florence in 1696, taking with him François de Troy’s Self-portrait for the collection of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, where it remains to this day. The Feuillants wore a distinctive white robe with a hood, which is related to that favoured by the Cistercians.  The Feuillants had been founded in 1577, at Feuillant near Toulouse, and were an offshoot of the Cistercian rule. The artist was also painter in ordinary to the Feuillants and exhibited a portrait of the member of the Order in the Salon of 1704.

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