Drawn in 1848, a year after the artist's return from England where he had followed the deposed King Louis-Philippe, the present drawing combines two of Lami's favorite themes; as it is both an evocation of country life and an historical evocation. Lami had been established as an official painter recording the great events at court during the reign of Louis-Philippe. After 1852, the new ruler of France, the Emperor Napoleon III, was both less interested in the arts in general, and in Lami in particular. Without official patronage Lami was left to produce imaginative watercolors imbued with the poetry of the past. The growth of interest in the 18th Century which Balzac, a friend of Lami's, had explored in The Cousin Poems, was brought to the forefront of fashion by Lami's grandest patron, Baron Rothschild. Lami was appointed assistant architect at the Chateau de Ferriéres, one of the Rothschild houses where fancy dress garden parties were organized, bringing to life Lami's vision of life in 18th Century France