This is one of a number of Greuze's studies of individual faces that have been described by Greuze scholar Edgar Munhall as "studies in expression." These studies are extraordinary in the way they convey emotions. In this portrait we see a mixture of emotions--satisfaction and fatigue, the complex feelings evoked by motherhood and family responsibility.

It is thought that this pastel is related to Greuze's painting, "The Beloved Mother," which depicts an exhausted woman and her clamoring children. By entitling these pictures as he does, Greuze transforms the needy demands that children make on their parents into love, and exhorts his audience to respect and love their elders.