A young child is being taught by an older girl. It is one version of a design that was repeated several times. The painting was engraved in 1740 by Lépicié with an inscription: 'If this charming child takes on so well the serious air and imposing manner of a schoolmistress, may one not think that pretence and artfulness come to the fair sex no later than birth.' The painting was exhibited by Chardin at the Salon of 1740, and probably dates from 1737.
