Because Adélaïde Labille-Guiard was a woman, it was a combination of incredible skill and a family friend that led to her acceptance at the Académie de Saint-Luc.  During her youth, many masters were hesitant to take on female students due to the belief that they were intellectually inferior.  In response to this resistance, Labille-Guiard’s self-portrait includes two students, both of whom are women.  As a way to highlight both her social status and success as a painter, the three figures in the painting are all dressed in beautiful gowns rather than outfits in which painting would actually be done.  This was a feature often seen in self-portraits of both men and women as a way to promote themselves to possible patrons and apprentices.