When Hyacinthe Rigaud moved to Paris in 1681, he soon established himself as the finest portrait painter working at the court of Louis XIV. Pierre Cardin Le Bret (1639/40–1711) was a high-ranking official in the administration of Louis XIV. In 1690 Le Bret became the first President of the High Court at Aix, and his son, Cardin Le Bret (1675–1734) succeeded his father after his death. When Rigaud painted this compelling double portrait, Cardin Le Bret was about to assume the intendancy of the province of Béarn in the Pyrénées, his first major appointment.