Interior of the Studio of Van Dael and his students at the Sorbonne, 1816 (oil...

This work depicts the studio of Jan Frans Van Dael (Belgian, 1764–1840), a floral painting specialist of the late 1700s and early 1800s. Van Brée presented this painting in 1817 to acclaim at the most important and visible exhibition venue for art in Paris, the Salon. Van Dael’s students fill the studio. Each pursues a different aspect of painting, from setting up an easel and preliminary drawing to sketching on a blank canvas, preparing a palette, laying out a composition in paint, and completing the final touches. All the women depicted were Parisian elites connected to the arts. Some were amateurs, but others were professional painters who publically exhibited and sold their work. The woman standing at center is probably Marie-Caroline de Bourbon-Sicile, duchesse de Berry, who had just married into the French royal family. Her decision to come to Van Dael’s studio for artistic training is unsurprising since, as one author at the time wrote, it was the “most beautiful and the most agreeably populated studio of Paris” with “amiable companions, seductive models, and a skillful master.”