As John Whitehead pointed out, this is a study of the boy on the left of La Dame de Charité of about 1775 at Lyon. The painting is one of the finest examples of what Diderot characterised as 'la peinture morale'. In the painting the little girl is being instructed in her first lesson in bienfaisance, presenting a poor family with a purse. The sick father lies surrounded by his family, the sword held by his son is a symbol of their former place in society. Edgar Munhall has, on the basis of a photograph, confirmed the attribution