Robert Gardelle was born into a bourgeois Geneva family. He was the second of four sons, nicknamed "the young" in contrast to his brother Daniel Gardelle (1679-1753), known as "the elder". Robert Gardelle studied painting in Kassel with Baron Mardfeld, before spending some time in Berlin. He then moved to Paris, where he became a pupil of Largillierre, copying his portraits. In 1713, he returned to Geneva and established himself as an important portraitist, depicting some of the most influential figures of his time, such as Pierre Fatio and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. This portrait from around 1720-1730 could, if the non-autograph indication on the reverse is to be believed, represent Robert Dunant-Massé, brother of the procureur Jacques Dunant-Massé and uncle of a member of the Céard family. If so, the painting has remained in the same family since its creation: Hippolyte Gosse's grandmother, Elisabeth Céard, was the daughter of Nicolas Céard and Françoise Massé.