An emblematic figure in the history of art, Jean-Étienne Liotard was one of the most important artists of his time. After training briefly with Daniel Gardelle in Geneva, Jean-Étienne Liotard entered the studio of Jean-Baptiste Massé in Paris in 1723, where he began his apprenticeship. In the spring of 1736, he travelled to Rome, then, in 1738, to Constantinople, where he stayed until 1742, before moving on to Jassy and, in 1743, to Vienna, where he was noticed by the Empress, who hired him as court painter. After brief stays in Venice and Frankfurt, Jean-Étienne Liotard returned to Paris in 1746, where he remained until 1753. He then worked in London, The Hague and Amsterdam. In 1757, the painter returned to his native city with great renown, while continuing to exhibit his works abroad. After a final trip to Vienna in 1777 and a year in Lyon in 1781, Jean-Étienne Liotard settled in the Geneva countryside in 1782. The present portrait is one of the few works by Jean-Étienne Liotard that can be precisely dated to 1721, i.e. before his first trip, thanks to the autograph inscription on the reverse. This Portrait of Jean-Pierre du Maine (1685?-1748), pastor of Lausanne and Daillens, is one of the artist's earliest work, which gives it a remarkable documentary value, all the more so as it is the first documented signed and dated portrait produced in Geneva by Jean-Étienne Liotard.