Beautiful colourful fresco of people sitting down to drink in the large square of Villeneuve-le-Comte with its bright yellow ground, painted in light and shadow against a background of multicoloured fairground rides under large red and blue lanterns, with, in the background, in perspective on the right, the silhouette of the façade of the town hall of this village in Seine-et-Marne where the artist’s country house was located, decorated with two tricolour flags for the national celebration. A partial view of a shooting range with rifles and pipes completes the full height of the canvas on the right.

In the centre of the group, a woman with light brown hair, bare arms and dressed all in white, catches the eye under the light, including that of the man to her right wearing a blue and white striped polo shirt, who turns his head sharply to the left, his torso still facing forward. To the right of the couple, two women in the shadows are talking, one with a baby in her arms. Their heads are positioned one masking the other, the mother’s head, sitting sideways, being painted from behind.

A vision of a happy and convivial humanity, this painting bursts with a certain happiness where pleasure is the rule.

Often exhibited, this painting has adorned the municipal council room of the Villeneuve-le-Comte town hall since March 2014.

Mr Havot, the artist’s neighbour in Villeneuve-le-Comte, posed for the man on the stage.