Prosper-Parfait Goubaux (1795 -1859), a dramatist, founded a boys' secondary school in Paris and commissioned Delacroix to paint portraits of those of his pupils who had won prizes in the 'Concours Général'.
This portrait was painted in about 1824 when Abel Widmer (1805 - 1838) was a prize-winner. He later became an industrialist.
