A preparatory study by Fragonard for Marguerite Gerard's picture of The First Step in the Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge. Eunice Williams was the first to publish the present drawing and establish the pattern of collaboration between the two artists. Marguerite Gerard, Fragonard's sister-in-law and best pupil had already in 1778 etched four of her master's wash drawings and in 1783 two engravings by N.T. Regnault and Gerard Vidal were published after The First Step and The Cherished Child, both described as 'painted by M. Fragonard and Mlle. Gerard.' A debate about the respective authorship of each part of the pictures remained open until the present drawing evidently by Fragonard was connected with the pictures showing how the master had provided his disciple with compositional studies, leaving the completion of the paintings to her polished skill as a painter.