The Academic Ascent In the studios of Paris, the trajectory of Nicolas-Adolphe Weber begins to take shape under the watchful eyes of Léon Cogniet and Alexandre Cabanel. He arrives in the capital with a foundation built at the École municipale de dessin de Metz, having already demonstrated a precise hand by copying Raphael’s The Transfiguration at the age of thirteen. The transition from a student in Metz to a regular presence at the S…