In both self-portraits, a variant of "Pygmalion and Galatea" is depicted as a painting of a mythical sculptor and living statue within a painting of a real sculptor, a living model, and (despite appearances) a plaster (not marble) statue.Like most 19th-century sculptors, Gérôme did not carve the marble himself but furnished professional marble cutters with a full-size plaster to use as a guide.