Alfred Emile Leopold Stevens (1823-1906) studied at the Brussels Academy under François-Joseph Navez, who introduced him to the teachings of Jacques-Louis David. In 1844 he was sent to Paris, where he studied under Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. At the Antwerp salon of 1855 Stevens exhibited the first of a genre for which he became famous; the private life of Second Empire Parisian women. The influence of Japonisme is often evident in these paintings. He was friends with Manet and Berthe Morisot , and among his pupils as a private tutor was the actress Sarah Bernhardt, of whom he painted several portraits. After two years in Brussels he returned to Paris in 1897, and a large exhibition of his work was held at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1900.

Acquired as the work of Alfred Stevens, in the year of the artist's death, this painting is now believed to be the work of an imitator. The historicising scene and eighteenth-century costume are not characteristic of his work, as Stevens chose to depict his contemporary sitters within fashionable interiors often decorated with Japanese-style furnishings and decoration; this was coupled with a skilful rendering of fabrics and silk.

A woman in eighteenth-century costume standing at full-length in an interior; facing half left, wearing pink silk with a tall powdered wig; she looks down at a black dog standing upon its hind legs on the shiny floor, as it begs for the tit-bit she holds. 

Inscribed on reverse: Jai au mois de fevrier 1876 / donne a s..i " L. d'Aubigny.  –