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After the middle of the seventeenth century Coques painted numerous family portraits located in a park or on the terrace of a palatial building. The family groups are usually rather more deeply in the composition than in his earlier works, and the figures are located at different levels in the composition, giving a stronger treatment of space. After 1660 the architectural elements and sculptural ornaments, as, for example, in the Family Group, emphatically express the preference for a more theatrical style.
In the present painting the identity of the family has not been established. The youngest child is being pushed along in a 'loopstoel'. The girl on the right plays an instrument which is probably a cittern. The older girl picks roses; because they are the flowers of Venus, the goddess of Love, this action may be a reference to her forthcoming marriage.
The landscape and trees in this work are possibly by another artist.
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