Mother and Child at a Fountain

This painting shows a mother and child in a garden beside a large ornamental fountain. Lancret specialized in a type of painting called a fête galante, which depicted elegant ladies and gentlemen socializing in pastoral settings. This canvas was cut down at some point before it entered The Huntington’s collection, probably due to some severe damage. Originally, it was rectangular, and showed the figure of a man to the right of the fountain, doffing his hat to the woman and child.