Jean-Louis-Ernst Meissonier (1815-1891) was one of the most successful painters of his time, demand for his small highly-wrought canvasses always far exceeding the supply. His studios in Paris, at 131 Boulevard Malherbes, and at his country house at Poissy were of unrivalled magnificence, and different views of them were frequently depicted. The military painter Eduard Détaille, Meissonier's best-known pupil, exhibited a view of the Paris studio at the Salon in 1867.

Gustave Mequillet married Meissonier's daughter in 1872 and he studied painting with his father-in-law while pursuing a military career. He made a number of studies of the summer studio or atelier vitré at Poissy between 1873 and 1878. A number of Meissonier's works can be recognised, among them the Ruines des Tuileries of 1877, and Bacchus et son Tonneau, now in the Fogg Art Museum in Cambridge, Mass. The sculpture on the stand is Napoleon I en 1814, and the little panels on the shelves are studies of cavaliers and cuirassiers for the crowded historical and battle pictures for which the painter was renowned