The announcement in the Mercure de France called the print ‘well worthy of the painting, since it is to the liking of everyone, even of the most discerning and choosy connoisseurs’. The text also mentions that the painting was in the collection of the King.
There was a developing undercurrent of interest in genre themes both among the cultured bourgeoisie and the aristocracy. In Chardin’s case it was marked by an austerity in technique and content directly contrasting with François Boucher’s open eroticism. The prints engraved after his paintings facilitated his almost immediate popularity and led to wide-spread copying of his work.
Lépicié’s engravings were very well received by contemporary critics, as is indicated by an excerpt from the Mercure de France: “… elle fait également honneur au rare talent de M. Chardin, Peintre de l’Académie, & à M. Lépicié, de la même Académie, qui l’a gravée avec un soin extrême.”
