Jacques-Augustin-Catherine Pajou was accepted to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in 1784. He aimed to become a history painter and he took part in the academy’s painted torso contest twice but did not win. Pajou’s father was a successful sculptor, and a certain influence is possibly discernible in the sculptural way he paints the model’s body. After his studies, Pajou the younger worked as a history painter and portrait painter.