At the time, women were not allowed to study in the French academy, so private education was the only option. Gérôme was one of the most sought-after instructors at the institute, so it was no small feat that Cassatt managed to impress him with her early work. It was under Gérôme's guidance that he improved his formal skills by going to the Louvre daily to copy the works of art on display. Students, like Cassatt, could pay for private lessons or education by selling copies of works of art created in the Louvre to American tourists. Around the same time as Cassatt's permanent move to Paris, Paris was in the midst of a social and artistic change from the previous status quo. Along with the aesthetic change came the emergence of a radical new group of artists who attempted to break away from the previous academic tradition. This group would soon be known as the Impressionists. However, Cassatt herself did not join this group for the next decade and continued to work in a more traditional manner so that she could present her works at the Paris Salon. Because the Paris Salon did not select as many of her pieces as she had hoped, she became frustrated and began to move away from the more classic style. It was around this time (in 1870) that he returned home for a summer to sell some