Portrait of an officer

Wearing a breastplate and sword, the man clearly holds military office. The paper in his hand (with its broken red wax seal) could be a letter of appointment. The portrait is much smaller than is usual for the artist, but is not a sketch. It may be a repetition by Largillierre of a larger original, or possibly represents the artist’s response to the small, exquisitely finished portraits by Dutch painters then becoming fashionable in France.