This is a variant of the painting in the Haggin Museum in Stockton, California. The artist is shown in his studio on the Boulevard de Clichy in Paris sculpting the marble of the "Tanagra" - his entry to the 1890 Salon (see lot 14). This polychrome marble of the "Tyché" or the spirit of the ancient Greek city of Tanagra is one of the most important sculptures of the late 19th Century and underlines the dominance of this medium at the end of Gérôme's illustrious career.
"A mésure qu'il perdait l'oeil pour la couleur, reconnaissant que sa carrière de peintre touchait à sa fin, il se consacrait de plus en plus à la sculpture, et c'est son pinceau qui devenait un délassement" ( M.H. Spielman, 1904, J. L. Gérôme Recollections 1824-1904, p. 204).

Gérôme often depicted himself in his studio with paintings such as La Fin de la Séance or Le Travail du Marbre (Ackerman, op. cit. no. 348 and 419). These eye-witness accounts are self-portraits, describing in detail elements of his work as important as sculptures or as incidental as the trappings of his studio. In this small roundel, Gérôme gives only the essential elements (the artist, the model, and the work of art itself), a concentrated vision encapsulating with a blown-up detail the life of the painter and his oeuvre.