Watteau de Lille trained in Paris with Jacques Dumont, and later at the Académie Royale, where in 1751 he was awarded first prize. In 1755, he settled in Lille, where he taught at the school of drawing until his dismissal for his innovative introduction of the study of nude, as was accepted in Paris. He returned to Valenciennes for fifteen years before becoming assistant teacher to Louis-Jean Guéret, director of the school of drawing in Lille, in 1770 (whom he later succeeded in the post in 1778). In 1795, he was chosen to draw up an inventory of works of art seized during the French Revolution from religious foundations and the houses of émigrés, with a view to establishing a museum.

Watteau introduced an annual Salon in Lille in 1773. He was the most prolific artist, described by his contemporaries as "un peintre besogneux", and between 1773 and 1798, he exhibited around 200 works in the Lille Salon. His military subjects, such as the present lot, reveal the influence of his uncle, Antoine Watteau (Valenciennes 1684 - 1721 Nogent-sur-Marne), representing, as they do, the other side of war. The present pair depicts a soldier bidding farewell to his loved ones and him conversing with ladies and telling stories to a group upon his return.