At age eight Joseph-Benoît Suvée began studying at the Royal Academy of Bruges. After winning multiple first prizes, he left for Paris in 1763 and enrolled at the Académie Royale the following year. He won the Prix de Rome in 1771, triumphing over Jacques-Louis David, who complained that Suvée used connections, a charge that may have been true. In Rome from 1772 to 1778, Suvée made chalk drawings
