A couple surprised by a young boy in a tree

The literary works of Jean de la Fontaine provided inspiration for French painters in the 18th century, who most commonly drew from his Fables. In this painting, Etienne Jeurat chooses instead a scene, Le Villageois qui cherche son Veau, which was also the source for an engraving by François Eisen. It is possible that Jeurat conceived a series of works based on de la Fontaine's stories, as a painting of the same size, Les Oies de Frère Philippe, is now in the collection of the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Valenciennes.