This forceful sheet is a study for the central pose of Vincent's reception piece, the painting he submitted to the Académie Royale in 1782 in order to gain the post of academician (Musée du Louvre, Paris; on deposit in Chambéry). The abduction is described in Ovid's Metamorphoses (6.682–707). Boreas, the north wind, enamored of the maiden Oreithyia, daughter of King Erechtheus of Athens, becomes angry when his gentle entreaties fail and decides to resort instead to his characteristic brute force.

The subject was a common one among Rococo artists; it had been treated by Boucher, Deshays, Natoire, and Pierre, among others. Vincent, however, was alone in evoking the stormy atmosphere and violence found in Ovid's version of the story. Using the trois crayons technique (which combines red, white, and black chalk), Vincent set forth the dramatic contrast he envisioned for the painting. The figures are drawn essentially in red chalk, with highlights in white that suggest a stark, milky light falling on Oreithyia; stumping in black chalk indicates shadow and the dark sky beyond. The detail of Oreithyia's left hand, emblematic of her resistance, is studied in the lower part of the sheet with great clarity, as if it were carved in marble.