Portrait of a man, traditionally identified as Roger Vandercruse La Croix (1727⁄8-1799)

Louis-Michel Van Loo came from a family of renowned painters whose cosmopolitan training and appointments facilitated the spread of French portraiture throughout Europe. Louis-Michel studied in France and Italy, and became the principal court painter to Philip V of Spain and Elisabeth Farnese in 1738. After fourteen years in this position, Van Loo returned to Paris, where he completed a series of royal portraits and succeeded his uncle, Carle Van Loo, as Director of the École Royale des Elèves Protégés.

The subject of this portrait has traditionally been identified as Roger Vandercruse La Croix, a Parisian ébéniste (cabinet-maker) whose family came from the Low Countries. He became a master craftsman in 1755 and went on to produce many pieces of fine furniture for Louis-Philippe, 4th duc d’Orléans, and the Comtesse du Barry, among other important patrons. His maker’s mark—RVLC—combined the French and Flemish forms of his surname. In the 1960s and '70s, the present portrait was offered alongside a pendant supposedly depicting Roger's wife, the present location of which is unknown.