Rodin drew and modelled clay studies of mother and child groups in the 1860s, some of which survive in the Musée Rodin. Many of them were based on Rose Beuret, his mistress, and their son Auguste, born on 23 January 1866. He then continued to explore the possibilities of these groups in his work for the Sèvres porcelain works and, in the 1880s, for The Gates of Hell (the bronze portal and doors for the new Museum of Decorative Arts, Paris, which he was asked to design in 1880). One version of this composition can be seen on the lower left corner of The Gates.

This plaster has also been known as 'The Young Mother at the Grotto', referring to the cave-like surround. There is another cast of the same subject in the Burrell Collection, Glasgow, known as 'Mother and Daughter' and a related compostion of a young girl holding a baby in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, is known as 'Sister and Brother'. The composition was also the inspiration for a work by the British sculptor John Tweed, who was a great admirer and supporter of Rodin.