In 1899, Max Jacob wrote that "of the group of young and original painters, M. Cottet stood out with his harmonious, sober, "naif" compositions" (A. Cariou, Charles Cottet, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Quimper, exh. cat., introduction). Cottet had been inspired by his travels to Brittany which he first visited in 1885 at the age of twenty-two. As with Selling Livestock, his paintings frequently recorded the daily activities of the Breton natives.