Battle of Beaux and Belles

A heated exchange unfolds between a woman, shown in profile, and a man kneeling beside an overturned chair. She wears an eighteenth-century gown and an elaborate pouf hairstyle adorned with plumes and floral ornaments; he is attired in an intricately patterned jacket, a lace jabot, and a full, curly wig. Three onlookers stand in the background, while a turbaned gnome peeks from behind the woman’s voluminous skirt, looking at the viewer with a sardonic expression.