Jean-Baptiste Mallet was a painter and printmaker who specialized in small, elegant gouaches (opaque
watercolors) of enigmatic subjects, such as this. Arranged like an implausible stage set, a monk-like character and an old man wearing a Phrygian cap appear to reprimand a largely female family who must have fallen on tough times, given that their handsome carpet and ornamental birdcage decorate a rusticated farm building.
