At the renowned École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, all teaching was centered on drawing the human body. Year after year, students copied nudes from ancient sculptures before being permitted to draw live models. This was because since the time of Vitruvius, the human body had been at the heart of the concept of absolute beauty. However, this ideal of beauty did not correspond to the anatomical and real beauty favoured by modern artists, who moved away from academic canons even if it meant depicting “ugliness”.