The painting is a satire of decadent French society, and depicts a bare-breasted <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/courtesan" class="extiw" title="w:courtesan">courtesan</a> driving a carriage pulled by <i>(from left to right)</i> a naked elderly man representing over-indulgence; a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/troubadour" class="extiw" title="w:troubadour">troubadour</a> representing youthful love; a young student who is writing, representing the educated nobility insensible to daily life's realities, and an old soldier filled with regret. The old woman sitting at the back of the carriage may symbolize the courtesan's future, while the thorny plants along the road indicate the difficulty of their journey. (See the reference below.)
<bdi><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Thomas_Couture" class="extiw" title="w:en:Thomas Couture"><span title="French painter (1815-1879)">Thomas Couture</span></a>
</bdi>
1873<div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1873-00-00T00:00:00Z/9</div>
<span class="int-own-work" lang="en">Own work</span>; photographed by <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Smuconlaw" class="mw-redirect" title="User:Smuconlaw">Smuconlaw</a> on 3 May 2012, 12:09.