This drawing is one of four paintings which were done for the ceiling decoration of the Hôtel Bartholny pere, rue de la Rochefoucauld, Paris. The ensemble, entitled L'histoire d'amour, consisted of four representations of love, each involving Cupid and a young girl. The subjects were: Love presents flowers to a young girl; He pricks her with an arrow; He laughs at her tears; and He flees. Each was reproduced as a lithograph. This drawing is for the fourth painting, which is accompanied by the following verse: 'You want to keep him He flees despite your tears As the butterfly He flies To the beauties , to other flowers'.