The painting was commissioned by the Marquis de Verri, an aristocrat, to Fragonard. However, the subject of the painting was something that the artist had attempted in his drawings before the Marquis commissioned the work . A scene of love between a young man and a young woman is Fragonard’s speciality, but this work is filled with a passion that could be described as violent.It depicts a young man holding a reluctant young woman in his arms in a bedroom and bolting the door. What is represented is the impulsive sexual desire, resistance and gasping of the struggling lovers. The young man, already undressed, faces the young woman with a passionate expression on his face and his arms around her waist. The woman, still dressed in her luxurious white and gold garments, bends down and tries to reject her partner’s fierce desire, but her resolve is wavering. Soon the young man will have his way .The cover of the bed on the left is turned up. The painter chose the colour blood red for the bed sheets and canopy to represent the sin of carnal desire. Also symbolising human sin is the apple on the table by the bed on the left-hand side of the screen .