Before answering this question, I will say that Pierre Subleyras was a famous French artist of the first half of the 18th century. The Duke of Saint-Aignan commissioned a series of paintings from him based on La Fontaine's fairy tales, and this was one of them. Moreover, its title repeats the title of the fairy tale.
Pierre Subleyras, "The Packed Saddle", 1732
However, the concept of a fairy tale here is very conditional. And although La Fontaine is known primarily for his fables (Krylov's fables "The Crow and the Fox" and "The Dragonfly and the Ant" are essentially translations of La Fontaine's fables), his tales were by no means children's. At the same time, they were also poetic and not so far from fables in form.
What is so unusual about the tale "The Loaded Saddle" that such an illustration was drawn for it? Well, I'll tell you its plot...
The hero of the tale is a famous artist. He is madly jealous of his wife. And when he has to leave home for a while, he draws a donkey on his wife's intimate place, believing that this image will be erased during lovemaking, which means that she will be afraid to cheat on him, not having the opportunity to hide her infidelity...
However, another artist turned out to be a lucky rival. And although the image of the donkey was erased, the lover managed to carefully copy it onto a piece of paper before that. But when he was redrawing the donkey back onto the body, he could not resist putting a saddle on it. Well, you understand the hint.
And the husband, having returned, even seeing the donkey in place, understood who was the donkey here...
PIERRE SUBLEYRAS (1699 - 1749) "THE PACKED SADDLE" 1727/1732 State Hermitage Museum
As an illustration to the fable "The Pack Saddle" Pierre Subleyras created two almost identical paintings, one of which is in the State Hermitage Museum, and the other is in a private collection.
Subleyras' canvas depicted the very moment when the artist creates a drawing. So, is this an illustration for a popular fable, that's all? But no. Pierre drew the plot from his own biography. At that time, he was already acquainted with Maria Felicia Tibaldi, fair and beautiful... and the lady of another artist, Tremoulière.

