A painter from Blois trained within the academic tradition (a pupil of Charles Busson, then of Léon Bonnat and Fernand Humbert), Sauvage exhibited at the Paris Salon from 1877 onwards, where he received a medal; an exhibition devoted to him was held at the Château de Blois in 1977. His work is also represented in public collections, notably at the Musée Bertrand (Châteauroux), which preserves a painting by the artist (Cloister Abandoned, 1893). 

This drawing is especially significant for the material history of the Salon of the Société des Artistes Français. In the 1880s, the SAF issued an Illustrated Salon Catalogue accompanied by supplements whose images were produced after original drawings supplied by the exhibiting artists, a key mechanism for disseminating Salon works. Here, the artist provides an autograph drawing after his painting in order to enable its printed reproduction: it is therefore a “working document” of the Salon, poised between artwork and archive.

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