The painters Ducq and De Meulemeester belonged to the Southern Netherlandish artists-in-training who were sent by the government to Rome to study Italian masterpieces. In a passage of the Vatican decorated by the renowned painter Raphael, De Meulemeester shows us his copy of the ceiling painting above him. His aim was to reproduce all of Raphael’s work. On the chair is his palette, watercolour box, and brush in a glass of water.