The classical realist art of Adolphe-William Bouguereau (1825-1905) was perhaps the most beloved artwork of his time by the general public, and the most reviled by Impressionists and others of the 19th-century "progressive" schools of painting, who scorned realism. Bouguereau, however, remained throughout his life a man of tradition and a staunch advocate of the classical style of art dating back to antiquity, in which the perfection of the human body, exactly represented, was a paramount subject. The identity of the little girl who was Bouguereau's model in this painting is unknown, but she appeared in at least one other of his paintings, standing up with an armful of flowers.

By Bouguereau's time the Industrial Revolution had brought to the artist such conveniences as widely available, ready-made paints, in many colors, and supplied in tubes, as well as mass-produced brushes and canvas, all manufactured by commercial firms specifically for artists.