A man in a white shirt and breeches stands at the right, his right arm outstretched to slide a bolt across the door, while his left arm encircles a woman in a golden satin dress. The woman, seated on the edge of an unmade bed, leans backward with her head turned away from the man, her right arm raised toward the bolt as if in protest or resistance. Her dress spills in luminous folds across the tangled bedclothes, which are rendered with vigorous, fluid brushwork and a play of light that accentuates the sheen of the fabric.

A large swathe of deep red drapery dominates the left half of the composition, cascading from above and pooling onto the bed, its heavy folds painted with bold, sweeping strokes. On the bed, a single apple rests near the edge, catching the light and providing a small but vivid detail amid the tumult of fabric and shadow. The composition is tightly focused on the figures and the immediate surroundings, with the bed, drapery, and wall filling the frame and leaving little space for extraneous detail.

The paint surface reveals energetic, textured brushstrokes, especially in the rendering of fabric and hair, which lend a sense of immediacy and movement to the scene. The overall palette is warm, dominated by golds, reds, and creams, with strong contrasts between the illuminated figures and the enveloping shadows. Jean-Honoré Fragonard created The Lock in the late 1770s, during the height of the Rococo movement. The subject, described as a galant or amorous scene, shows a couple entwined in a bedroom as the man reaches to secure the door, a moment that has sparked debate over whether it depicts an embrace or an act of coercion.