Auguste Toulmouche was a successful genre painter who briefly mentored the young Claude Monet. He exhibited his work at The Salon from 1848 onwards, receiving numerous accolades, including a silver medal at the Salon of 1861 and a bronze medal at the 1878 Universal Exposition. (The Salon, or rarely Paris Salon, beginning in 1725 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. Between 1748-1890 it was the greatest annual or biannual art event in the Western world. From 1881 onward, it has been organized by the Société des Artistes Français.)

Married to a cousin of Monet's Aunt Lecadre, Toulmouche accepted Monet in his atelier in 1862. In the same year he encouraged Monet to enter the studio of the Swis...