Born into a modest family, Joseph-Marie Vien began his apprenticeship with various painters before joining the Académie royale in Paris in 1740. A pupil of Charles-Joseph Natoire and influenced by the Comte de Caylus, he won the Prix de Rome in 1743. During his early years, the artist was criticized for his overly simple, realistic style. However, he managed to make a name for himself and was finally admitted to the Académie royale in 1754. Joseph-Marie Vien acquired an honorable status, thanks in particular to commissions from Mme de Barry, and founded a school where he trained many students, including the famous Jacques-Louis David. In 1775, the painter was appointed director of the Académie de France in Rome, then, in 1789, first painter to the king. When he died in 1809, Joseph-Marie Vien was given a state funeral at the Panthéon: he is the only painter to be buried there. With an expressive pencil stroke characterized by almost nervous hatching, the present drawing is a great example of the mastery of gesture. With a simple, effective composition, the artist, who may have left his signature on the lower left (J Vien F?), shows us here a Portrait of an old bearded man in profile, perhaps a preparatory study for a figure that remains unidentified.