Born in Verdun in eastern France, Leroux studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris prior to receiving the coveted Prix de Rome in 1857. Residing in Rome for the next seventeen years, he also made excursions to Greece, Egypt and the Holy Land. He drew upon these experiences in his artistic endeavors for the rest of his career. Legends featuring Vestal Virgins, women of spotless chastity who guarded the sacred flames at Rome, were among Leroux’s favorite themes. A large version of the Vestal Tuccia was exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1874 and ultimately acquired through Lucas for the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, DC. Hector LeRoux, one of the principal artists in Paris, used to live in Rome. There in his delightful retirement on the Via Quattro Fontane, in a charming apartment, Le Roux painted some of his most important and beautiful pictures—including the Tuccia, which is in the Corcoran Gallery in Washington. . .LeRoux has been medaled again and again, and decorated for his beautiful works. – Miss Anne Brewster, Paris Letter, October, 1877. This installation provides the opportunity to see Lucas’s additions to the backs of his paintings, a practice which he followed throughout his years of collecting.