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In addition to its religious connotations, the lamb in Western art is seen as an attribute of Innocence, Gentleness, Patience and Humility. By including a lamb in the present picture, Greuze thus invests his beautiful young subject with the same connotations. Such depictions of young women cuddling pets, implying their ability to feel emotion, relate to the eighteenth-century cult of sensibilité fostered by Rousseau and others. Greuze’s heroine thus appears possessed of the heady combination of sexual innocence and emotional depth. The painting later attained notoriety because of the high price paid for it by the 4th Marquess of Hertford.