The artist Duplessis painted numerous portraits of Franklin, depicting him in either a gray coat or a suit with a fur collar. Today, Franklin portraits by Duplessis, or those derived from his Franklin portraits, are called either "gray coat" portraits or "fur collar" portraits, even when the color of the subject's clothing is not gray. This work is derived from a "fur collar" portrait by Duplessis, and was bought by Thomas Jefferson from the artist Jean Valade in the summer of 1787. It was offered to him as being an original by Jean Baptiste Greuze that had been painted for Franklin's friend, the Abbé Véri. Jefferson's record cites "a picture 96f."