The atelier shown here was for the exclusive use of ladies and young women. This was a time when artists scrupulously avoided mixing the sexes by organizing separate ateliers, or having different days of the week for young women and young men. In women’s ateliers modesty dictated that there should be no life classes (and we may note that here the only cast that is not a bust is modestly turned toward the wall). On the right can be seen two windows hung with dark cloth, so that the only light source is the large glass roof above. Sketches of Abel de Pujol’s most famous works hang on the atelier wall (including his large-scale painting for the church of SaintÉtienne- du-Mont, Paris: Saint Stephen Preaching the Gospel). In 1856, the artist who painted this work became the second wife of Alexandre Denis Abel de Pujol; in 1836, she painted the artist in his studio working on a large-scale canvas, with a young woman posing naked in front of him (Valenciennes, Musée des Beaux-Arts).