The painting was mostly unknown for more than two centuries as it was purchased in 1770 by Gustaf Adolf Sparre and privately held in that Swedish art collection and rarely seen until it was acquired by the Getty Museum in 1983.

[5] Several years previously, Denis Diderot began publishing the first modern form of art criticism, and became one of Greuze's admirers after they met in 1759.

[2][6] Its development was influenced by Dutch cabinet painting and the imagery of the laundress made popular through a literary style known as genre poissard [fr].

[note 1] A young maidservant bends over to wring out linen with her hands as she stares provocatively at the viewer with a sensual, flirting glance.

She appears unkempt, wearing clothes which cover her body and red mules on her feet, but her ankle and foot are exposed suggesting a lack of sexual restraint.