Happy Fecundity

At the center of the oval, a young mother in a white blouse and red skirt sits holding a baby, while older children play around her. Outside the window on the left, the father peers into the house together with a donkey, and a dog is nearby. Behind them stretches a large, old stone space.

Four other versions of this composition are known besides this work (including one in the National Gallery of Art in Washington), and it was a popular subject at the time. On the platform at the right are onions, a piece of meat, and a deep metal pot-like vessel; the commentary speculates that the platform is an old altar and the building a temple.

The commentary points out that the painting is an ideal family portrait expressing Rousseau's idea that the family is the foundation of society. It also notes that the figure of a woman holding a child, in red and blue garments, is a contemporary reworking of the traditional Christian subjects of the Madonna and Child and the Holy Family. The work is said to show that Fragonard was more than a genre painter.