Charles de Saint Denis, Seigneur de Saint Evremond.

A half length portrait, enclosed in a carved oval frame, of the soldier, philosopher, moralist and man of letters Charles de Marguetel de Saint-Denis, Seigneur de Saint-évremond (1613-1703). A transitional figure between Montaigne and the philosphers of the Age of Reason, he was a lover of Ninon de l’Enclos and a follower of Cardinal Mazarin. He is depicted here in a round cap and academic robes, with an enormous and disfiguring facial tumour between his eyes.