Jean Georges Vilbert (* September 30, 1840 in Paris; † July 28, 1902 in Paris) came from an upper middle class family and was a trained academic painter from childhood. While he was primarily concerned with mythological motifs until the mid- to late 1860s, he became particularly well known for his political, humorous/satirical depictions of upper church personnel such as cardinals and the wealth in their homes and estates. One of his trademarks is a certain liveliness of the motifs, the depicted movement & positioning, but also his use of color, especially a strong red is often used.

The scene depicted here is from a politically-satirically charged novel too, Gulliver's Travels, which only in later times, without that satirical commentary and other scenes in a new, abridged and revised children's book version, achieved its current world fame.