These two young French artists lived in the Villa Medici, the seat of the French Academy in Rome that housed and trained advanced students. Both artists are looking out of a window on the villa’s side, perhaps from their bedrooms, at the church that stands above the famous Spanish Steps. Dupré paints the scene in full summer sun, while Giroux paints the same scene under a thin blanket of snow, a very rare event in Rome. One imagines the artist waking up to find a familiar view transformed and, with great excitement, hurrying to transcribe it before the sun melts it all away.
