Attributed to Philippe de Champaigne (Brussels 1602-1674 Paris)

In the early nineteenth century, William Buchanan noted in the collection of a Citoyen Robit a portrait by Philippe de Champaigne of a man identified as the philosopher and mathematician René Descartes. A portrait said to depict the same sitter was offered at Christie's sale of the Earl of Bessborough's collection (5-7 February 1801, lot 35; 10-11 July 1850, lot 145). Bernard Dorival (op. cit.) mistakenly suggests that the Bessborough picture may have been identical with the present painting, which is known to have been at Woburn Abbey by 1834.

A copy of the present portrait, measuring 67 x 54 cm., was last recorded at Christie's London (20 February 1986, lot 44, as 'Follower of Philippe de Champaigne'). Alternative attributions to either Claude Lefebvre or Laurent Fauchier have been suggested.