The Studio of Cabanel Saint-Quentin, Aisne, provides the starting point for Jacques François Fernand Lematte. The year is 1850. He moves toward the École des beaux-arts de Paris, entering the studio of Alexandre Cabanel. This environment dictates his early trajectory. The air in the studio carries the weight of academic rigor and the expectations of the French Academy. A sudden shift occurs in 1870. Lematte produces The Death of Messalina. This work secures him the Prix de Rome. The achievement changes his geography. He moves to the Villa Medici in Rome, residing there from 1871 to 1874. The…