Louis-Ami Arlaud, born into a family of artists in Geneva, studied under Jean-Etienne Liotard in Geneva and Joseph-Marie Vien in Paris. He specialized in miniature painting, using the technique of watercolor mixed with gouache on ivory, which he developed successfully. In 1778, Louis-Ami Arlaud opened his own studio in Geneva, where he produced a large number of portraits for Swiss and English clients. He enjoyed considerable success in London between 1792 and 1802, where he exhibited at the Royal Academy and carried out numerous commissions for the English aristocracy. Returning to Geneva in 1802, Arlaud continued to produce portraits in addition to teaching at the Société des Arts de Genève's École de dessin, counting among his pupils artists such as Firmin Massot, Adam Töpffer and Jacques-Laurent Agasse. According to the documentation in the cabinet d'arts graphtique (Musée d'art et d'histoire de Genève), the present drawing is part of an "album Arlaud", the existence of which is unknown. It depicts, with a touch of humor, a Sleeping revolutionary, and must allude to the political climate in Geneva between 1790 and 1800, which may give us a clue as to the work's date.