
Several identifications have been proposed but none is entirely satisfactory. A version of the painting in the Uffizi is claimed to represent the poet Jean-Baptiste Rousseau (1670 - 1741).
The costume, which seems unusually elaborate, accords for the most part with the date of 1710 claimed for the Uffizi version, but the curled and tasselled frogging of the sitter's waistcoat or jacket was unusual at so early a date.