This drawing is a preliminary sketch for an engraving titled Le Dîner à l’Auberge, engraved in two states between 1917 and 1922. Drawing on scenes of daily life Laboureur was customarily fond of, this piece also showcases the post-cubist turn that the artist would take in his later work. Writing in his Considérations sur la gravure originale [Considerations on Original Printmaking], which were published in 1928 in Brussels, the artist considered the chisel ideal for engraving a beautiful, clean-cut line, thus giving prominence to the whiteness of the paper.