The drawing, previously thought to be by Watteau, was correctly identified by Margaret Morgan Grasselli as a preparatory study for the figure helping a lady to dismount in the left of the painting in the The Hunt Breakfast at Sao Paolo, J.-L. Bordeaux, Francois Le Moyne and his Generation, Neuilly-sur-Seine, 1984, no. P38, fig. 34. The painting is dated 1723, the year of Le Moyne's departure to Italy with his patron François Berger. The early history of the painting before it entered Lord Rosebery's Collection is unknown, but it is possible that Berger, who commissioned from Le Moyne numerous paintings during this period (see the following two lots), was also responsible for this commission.
Several other preparatory drawings for this composition are in Stockholm, in the Louvre and in the Metropolitan Museum, J.-L. Bordeaux, op. cit., nos. D51-6, figs. 179-184. All the studies are in red chalk which, in the fluidity of its handling, rivals that of Watteau.
The Hunt Breakfast is very much inspired by Watteau's scènes galantes like the Halt during the Chase in the Wallace Collection, London. The man helping a lady to dismount in Watteau's picture probably inspired the group in Le Moyne's composition. This type of subject was very popular after Watteau's death in 1721, and inspired many of Le Moyne's comtemporaries like Jean-François de Troy, Le Moyne's great rival, and Carle van Loo