[1] Greuze exhibited the work in the Salon of 1757 with a long explanatory title: Une Mère grondant un jeune Homme pour avoir renversé un Panier d’Oeufs que sa Servante apportoit du Marché.

Un Enfant tente de raccomoder un oeuf cassé ("A mother scolding a young man for having overturned a basket of eggs that her servant brought from the market.

[1] The painting depicts an old woman rebuking a young man who is responsible for having broken the eggs in the basket of a servant girl who sits dejectedly on the floor.

[1] The work was created in Rome, but the main source of inspiration may have been the painting of the same name by the Dutch painter Frans van Mieris the Elder (1655-1657), which Greuze may have known from an engraving.

The child's gaze towards the other characters and the shell of a broken egg in his hand, the content of which flows down to the ground, prompts the viewer to wonder about the connection between the maid and the young man.