Louis-Léopold Boilly La Bassée 1761 - 1845 Paris

H. Harisse, Louis Boilly, peintre, dessinateur et lithographe, Paris 1898, c.f. nos. 299, 300, 531, 1215, 1359;
To be included in E. Breton and P. Zuber's forthcoming catalogue raisonné.

This drawing, although typical in its moralizing subject matter, is unusual in its degree of finish; unlike most of Boilly's drawings, it is not a study, but a finished work in its own right, probably intended as a prototype for a number of variations on the theme that Boilly undertook throughout his career. 

The drawing was twice made into a lithograph, once published by de Villain in 1826, as Les Epoux Heureux, and again as part of the undated series of 96 prints: Les Grimaces.