The composition is related to Watteau's Halt during the Chase in the Wallace Collection. The traditional attribution to Watteau was questioned in 1912 by Zimmerman, who gave the picture to Pater, an attribution accepted by Ingersoll-Smouse.
Provenance: ?London, Noel Desenfans, 1786-1807: ?London, Christie's, Desenfans private sale, 8ff. Apr. 1786, lot 361 ('Watteau-Conversation in Landscape. 29 x 34 out fr. £55'); ?London, Desenfans private sale, 8ff. Jun. 1786, lot 157, as 29 x 34 in framed; ?London, Noel Desenfans (?1804 Insurance List, no. 47. 'A Conversation'. £150); London, Sir Francis Bourgeois, by 1811; Bourgeois Bequest, 1811.