The common interpretation suggests that the scene depicts two lovers entwined in a bedroom, the man locking the door.

The canvas seemed to unveil a profound revitalization of Fragonard's inspiration that first distinguished itself in historical paintings, in particular Jeroboam Sacrificing to Idols, first prize of Rome 1752.

Indeed, a theory claimed that the two works, The Contract and The Bolt, constitute, along with another painting of Fragonard, The Armoire, the three chapters of a novel in which the heroes would be the two lovers.

The Bolt illustrated the passion of the couple, The Armoire, the discovery of their affair and being caught in the act, and The Contract, their reconciliation.

Gault de Saint-Germain said of him that "Ariosto, Boccaccio, La Fontaine were his inspirers and his ingenious teachers, spiritual in the inventiveness, he got sometimes the freshness of the color of his inimitable models."