Watermark: fleur-de-lis with shell-shaped bottom.
Lagrenee's 1764 depiction of the moralizing tale of the ancient Greek brothers Cleobis and Biton is already in tune with the later tenor of neoclassicist subjects: an example of filial devotion, the brothers pulled their mother's chariot to the Temple of Juno. The drawing was most likely executed in preparation for the artist's presentation piece to the Academy in 1763--it is signed at lower left by Louis Claude Vassé, the professor responsible for approving the candidates' compositions--although whether the painting was ever executed is unknown.
Signed and dated at lower right in pen and brown ink, "lagrenně 1764"; at lower left in red chalk, "Vassé" (Louis-Claude Vassé, 1716-1772, was named professor at the Académie in 1761 and passed on this design).
Ryskamp, Charles, ed. Twenty-First Report to the Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library, 1984-1986. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1989, p. 355.