The drawing dates from Robert's imprisonment in Saint-Pelagie where he was taken after his arrest for not having renewed his civilian's card in October 1793. He remained there until January 1794 until his transfer to Saint-Lazare gaol. Drawings from this period include the study of two prisoners playing cards at Orléans (V. Carlson, Hubert Robert, Drawings and Watercolours, Washington, 1978, no. 58) and a self-portrait in the Musée Carnavalet. The technique and the composition of figures amid Roman sculpture in this sheet are similar to that in the drawing of a Beggar and Parrot in a private collection, Paris, V. Carlson, op. cit., no. 59