'The Happy Mother' reflects the early nineteenth-century concern with motherhood, influenced by the novels of Rousseau and by the philosophy of the Enlightenment (cf. Morland P574 and Reynolds P32). It is an evocative depiction of the joys of breast-feeding and was twinned with a pendant of 'The Unfortunate Mother' shown mourning at the tomb of her dead child. The present sketch was purchased by the 4th Marquess of Hertford at the sale of the miniaturist, Daniel Saint (1778–1847), one of the first collectors of Rococo art at the beginning of the nineteenth century, who also shared Lord Hertford’s penchant for the sentimental productions of Prud’hon.