Lancret was best known for his fête galante paintings, of which the Rohatyn picture is one of the best examples in an American collection. Lancret began his career as a student of Claude Gillot, from about 1712 onwards; Gillot, who also taught Antoine Watteau, specialized in genre and theatrical scenes. Indeed it is commonly thought that Lancret's decision to enter the studio of Gillot was based on his great admiration for Watteau. While Lancret was never Watteau’s pupil, they developed a friendship and Lancret continually looked to Watteau as a mentor. In 1719, Lancret was reçu into the Académie Royale as a painter of fêtes galantes, a category created specifically for Watteau a few years prior. The relationship between the two artists soured, however, at the Exposition de La Jeunesse, when two paintings by Lancret were received so positively that many thought they were by Watteau. The elder artist did not appreciate it when his friends mistakenly complimented him on the paintings, and thus broke ties with the young Lancret. Watteau died in 1721, and Lancret quickly established his name as an independent master, eventually developing his own style by shifting his figures further forward in his compositions and animating them with livelier gestures, both in his drawings and his paintings.

Despite the traditional title for the subject, the costume seen here is actually Polish rather than Greek in origin, of a type that was introduced into France at the beginning of the 18th century, and enjoyed considerable popularity. A preparatory drawing in red, black, and white chalk for the figure of the "beautiful Greek" on the far right was previously in the Georges Dormeuil collection, Paris, and sold by his descendants at Sotheby's London, 9 July 2014, lot 64 (fig. 1).