This must have been a usual image of the Roman Forum, when it was a place where cows would graze, with half-buried monuments and students perching on the ruins with a ladder so they could measure them. (The drawing is of Louis-François Cassas (1756-1827), of 1779).

Students entered the École des Beaux-Arts at an age between 15 and 30 years old. They started in the second class and competed in an emulation contest, consisting of an initial sketch or outline, which could last up to 12 hours; this would end up in a large drawing on which they would work for one to three months. Another set of sketch and finished drawing would follow this exercise…Moreover, students assisted theory, history and construction classes. After 2 or 4 years, students could move to the first class, which followed the same process in a more advanced level. Once achieved sufficient merit, according to teachers, students could compete for the Prix de Rome.

In 1720, the FrenchAcademy established the architecture prizes of Rome, but competitions were customary only after 1730. By this time the prize, previously in painting (1663) and sculpture (1673), was extended to architecture. This was a practice then spread to other European academies.

The main elevation (observe the way he suggests the recessed position of side wings, decreasing contrast between its elements: darkening the plan of the wall and softening the darkness of the cavities).
 

The winners of the contest were hosted for 4 or 5 years in Rome, at the Villa Medici, with the obligation to submit the course work to the Academy regularly. During this stay, students sketched and studied Roman (and Greek) architecture. Each year, until the fourth or fifth of the stay in Rome, students (pensionnaires) were supposed to do two sets of drawings, or envois, of the monuments of ancient Rome. In the first, they would reproduce the état actuel, an accurate representation in plan and elevation of the "current" state, which documented the place with the precision of an archaeologist.

This is the Roman Forum and, in the background, the Tabularium, as was in 1865. Moyaux entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1852 and won the Prix de Rome in 1861, on the sixth attempt.

In the second year, the students would reproduce the restauré état, an imaginary and often idealized restoration, which was accompanied by a written description of the age and construction of the monument. These drawings were exhibited at the FrenchAcademy in Rome and sent to Paris for exhibition and critique. The next drawing, also by Constant Moyaux, shows the appearance of such drawings.
 

The fourth year, after a thorough study, the student would present a full restoration of a classic building. This delivery of Moyaux belongs to his fourth year in Rome, a hypothetical reconstruction of the Tabularium and the Roman Forum.

According to the Academy conventions, all parts are shown with equal detail, so that no structure dominate the composition. Each building is differentiated by subtle changes of tone and shadow, projected at 45 degrees.

If the student had not sent any work to Paris by the end of the year, his pension was reduced by half. And if the student still did not still give samples of his work by the third year, the pension was reduced to fifty francs a month.The works sent to Paris were evaluated by a jury and accordingly awarded: the best with 2400 francs and the following with 1800, 1200 and 600. The Moniteur published each year the assessment of each of the works.