Painted as a grisaille (a work of varying tones, but a single colour), this picture is intended as an imitation of a mounted engraving, although the subject does not duplicate than of any known print. It is probably a derivative by Boilly of his Salon picture of 1799.
The composition derives from a type of genre scene popular in 17th-century Holland and which also became popular with collectors in France in the later 18th century. The highly finished style in this picture recalls such 17th-century Dutch painters as Caspar Netscher.
