This elegantly painted portrait shows a young man seated at a writing box on a table. The man leans on the table and holds a dip pen in his right hand, writing a letter that rests halfway on a portrait of a man. Next to the writing box are his other writing and painting utensils.

Although the portrait is neither signed nor dated, various visual clues allow for a fairly precise assessment of who painted it, where, and when. First, based on the man's posture, the way he looks directly at the viewer, and the attributes that indicate his skill as a painter, it can be concluded that this is a self-portrait. The young man, who must be in his twenties, is dressed in the fashion of the first decade of the nineteenth century. His hairstyle, the cut of his coat, and the way his tie is tied indicate that this portrait was painted in Paris between 1805 and 1810.

The portrait's pure and objective neoclassical style clearly shows the influence of Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825). David was a leading figure in French neoclassicism at the beginning of the nineteenth century. His clear and realistic style, stripped of emotional stylistics, served as a model for many young artists in Paris at the beginning of the nineteenth century. He trained more than 400 young artists in his studio, thus dominating the development of painting in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. His studio was a breeding ground for talent, with Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Antoine-Jean Gros, and François Gérard among his most notable students.

Given the obvious stylistic similarity to David's work, and the man's age, it seems likely that this is a direct student of David's. Another clue to this can perhaps be found in the portrait half-hidden beneath the letter lying before the man. The middle-aged man portrayed clearly resembles David, who was around sixty at the time.