Before the introduction of compulsory schooling and the modern curriculum, there was a considerable emphasis on the importance of girls acquiring the skills to help them keep house as adults: needlework, cookery, and some basic arithmetic, reading and writing. Those who came from the better-off families also learned ‘accomplishments’ such as music, dancing, languages and art (particularly sketching and watercolour painting). The girls in this painting are probably either pupils of the artist or members of his family. The girl at the easel is sketching a copy of an existing work of art, a classical statue, a process though to teach students both good technique and a sense of proportions.