A SOLDIER SEATED MAKING OFFERS TO A YOUNG WOMAN.

The mild and tranquil expression of the two personages forming this composition, might leave some doubt as to the subject of the scene: yet it would be difficult not to discern the nature of the request, made by an officer, already advanced in years, and of a remarkable corpulence : he holds his purse in one hand, and with the other offers some pieces of gold to a pretty young woman, elegantly attired, and alone with him, in his room: she is still holding in her hand a goblet in which she appears to have been drinking, but which she has not yet had time to place on the table. She appears undecided, yet the attention with which her eyes are fixed on the officer's hand, may allow the supposition that she is not far from yielding to the capitulation so cavalierly proposed.

The officer's countenance, without being handsome, has a mild expression: that of the young woman is very ingenuous. The stuffs and fur composing her dress are rendered with care and exactness: the same may be said of the fruits and dishes on the table, and also of the goblet held by the young

woman.

This picture formed, for upwards of a hundred years, part of the King's Collection: it was for a long time, at Versailles, in the apartments of the Surveyor of the King's buildings, who then had the care of the pictures. It has been engraved by Audouin.

Height 2 feet 5 inches; width 21 inches.