Fontaine’s depiction of his family studio was exhibited at the Salon of 1878, where it was shown under the laconic title ‘Intérieur d’atélier’. At its essence, this is exactly what the painting depicts and yet it is so much more than a simple studio view: intensely autobiographical, the painting is imbued with layers of meaning and is replete with vibrant, animated, detail.

In the Fontaine family studio in Versailles, with the day’s sunlight modulated by a green cloth strung across the window, a young lady wearing an artist’s smock, a sign of her professional status, diligently paints the portrait of a seated woman of similar age. The artist is Marie-Claire Fontaine, daughter of Edme-Alphonse, and she is in the process of painting her portrait of ‘Mlle E.B.’, likewise exhibited at the Salon of 1878. [...]

‘Intérieur d’atélier’ is so many things at once: a biography of a family; a tribute to a daughter; a memorial to a wife; an insight into the professional status of women artists in late 19th-century France; and, finally, a demonstration of the importance of the studio in family life.