Le bois est cher et les arts ne vont pas.

Trustman, Benjamin A., Trustman, Julia M. · 1833

This print possibly depicts the studio of Paul Huet. It characterizes the public's lack of understanding towards the artist and his life as well as his dire financial situation. It is not quite clear who the persons in the picture are: Traviès, Cabat, Jeanron, or Paul Huet, have been suggested in the 1958 exhibition catalogue of the Bibliothèque Nationale. Daumier shared an atelier with Paul Huet, Jeanron, Diaz and Préault in Rue Saint-Denis. Paul Huet (1803-1869) was a painter of landscapes and animals, as well as a known aquarellist and lithographer. Antoine Augustin Preault (1809-1879) was a sculptor and friend of Daumier’s, with whom he shared an atelier. He showed his sculptures at the Salon of 1849.