With Newhouse Galleries, New York (as by Pesne).

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The work in the pair featuring a blindfolded figure is on a wooden panel that has been thinned and remounted onto a piece of plywood. While the plywood on the reverse could be made slightly more attractive, it is not entirely an unsuccessful method of support. However, there is a noticeable arc shaped crack to the panel in the upper right, running through the large tree. There is another crack running through the head of the crouching gentleman on the right holding the dress. There are a few other horizontal cracks in the upper left and lower center. The condition of the paint itself seems to be very good. The figures show no abrasion. There are loses in the upper sky in the center and in the upper left. There are losses in the ground beneath the blindfolded figure. There are restorations in the arc shaped crack in the upper right and beneath the urn in the upper right. The restoration and the surface could be adjusted, but the condition of the work is good despite the remounting of the panel. This painting of racquet sports has been mounted onto another panel, like its mate. In this case, the most noticeable structural issue is a horizontal crack through the legs of the central male figure. There are other cracks in the lower left corner and in the upper sky. However, like the other painting in the pair, there is no abrasion and the figures are generally healthy. There are restorations in the upper sky, in the trees in the upper center, across the cracks in the lower center and near the green parasol in the center. This work will also respond well to attention from a restorer. The condition of the work is good.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This playful pair of pictures displays a refinement and elegance for which Antoine Pesne was rightly revered. His does not belong to any one clear school of painting, but rather draws on influences from throughout Europe, and indeed these paintings seem to find their inspiration from a number of different regions. That these works would have been painted by an artist like Pesne is unsurprising, given that he travelled extensively, with sojourns to Paris, Prussia, Berlin, and Venice. Though rooted in traditional French fête galante scenes popularized by Watteau and Lancret nearly fifty years earlier, incoloration and soft skin tone, the figures recall Pesne's Venetian contemporaries, notably Jacopo Amigoni, and his elegantly elongated female figures. 

Blind man's buff is a children typically played by children, which is a varian𝓡t of "tag". The term buff was traditionally used as word fꦏor a light push, hence the connection to the style of game connected with tag.