Picot was born at Moulins as the eldest son of a tax officer and died in the small town of Limeil. Although he seems to have frequented libertine circles, he entered the church and was appointed prior of the Abbey of Le Rouvre. Together with two libertine friends, Picot visited Descartes in the Netherlands in 1641. He familiarized himself with Cartesian philosophy – which, Descartes suggests, led to Picot's “conversion” to his metaphysics (AT III 340) – and temporarily settled in Utrecht where he was introduced to Descartes’ mathematics. When Picot returned to France in November 1642, he started a correspondence with Descartes, most of which is now known only through the abstracts and short quotations by Adrien Baillet. The correspondence was personal and intimate, discussing details such as Descartes’ health, diet, and dress. It shows that Picot often assisted Descartes in financial matters and that Descartes roomed with Picot while in Paris in 1644 and 1647. Almost immediately after the publication of the Principles (1644), Picot began a French translation of it, published in 1647. He was also involved in the distribution of Descartes’ Passions of the Soul (1649) in France and seems to have written two of the four letters that form the preface to that work.

See also Baillet, Adrien; Principles of Philosophy; Passions of the Soul