Édouard-Joseph Dantan was the son of the renowned French sculptor Antoine-Laurent Dantan (1798-1878) and nephew to Jean-Pierre Dantan (1800-1869), also a sculptor and celebrated for his portraits and caricatures of his contemporaries.  Growing up among these two great artists, Dantan gained an intimate understanding of both the demands and pleasures of the artist's life. It is this first-hand, nuanced experience that informs Un Coin D'Atelier, the artist's Salon submission of 1880. The work was so well-received that it was quickly acquired by the French State for the Musée du Luxembourg (and now hangs in the Musée des Avelines, Saint-Cloud).

In this composition, Dantan shows his father in his Saint-Cloud studio absorbed in the restoration of his bas-relief of The Drunkenness of Silenus, which he exhibited at the Salon of 1868. While there is no known record of a full-scale second version of the 1880 Salon painting, the quality and age of this work suggests the artist's closeness to Dantan; the name Rémon has yet to be identified, but could be a protégé of Dantan's.

Édouard Dantan, A corner of the workshop, 1880 © RMN-Grand Palais (Musée d'Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski
G. Michelez, Photograph of Un coin d'atelier" by Joseph Edouard Dantan, Album of photographs of works purchased by the State entitled: "Direction des Beaux-Arts. Works commissioned or acquired by the Service des Beaux-Arts. Salon of 1880. no. 970