This painting portrays a young girl and her little brother, both dressed in traditional Breton attire, seated together in a serene outdoor setting. The elder sister cradles her brother protectively, embodying the ideal of virtuous and attractive peasants living a simple life in close contact with nature.

Bouguereau based this composition on sketches he made during his summer visits to Brittany in the late 1860s, completing the painting in his studio in 1871. The artist's meticulous attention to detail and his ability to capture the innocence and purity of rural life made such works highly appealing to American collectors of the time, earning him considerable fame and fortune. ​