Barrias, a painter of historical pictures and winner of a Prix de Rome in 1844 that earned him a four-year stay at the Villa Medici in Rome, was an eclectic artist known as the illustrator of the complete works of Shakespeare, among others. In 1877 he was awarded the Légion d'Honor and was commissioned to make the decoration of the Foyers of the Opéra de Paris. Nevertheless, he was very popular for being the first teacher of Edgard Degas as well as the one who initiated him into the study and research of drawing.