Alexandre Cabanel was well known for his dramatic religious and mythological narratives drawn and painted with precise draftsmanship and a high degree of academic finish. A student of François Picot, Cabanel studied in Rome after winning a second place award in the Prix de Rome competition, enabling him to study the works of the Florentine masters whom he revered. As a teacher he was highly influential, counting many successful students who studied with him as one of the three main professors at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, alongside Jean-Léon Gérôme and Isidore Pils. He was also a regular member of the Salon jury and, as such, helped form the character of French “belle époque” painting.