( CNN ) -- Sigrid Avrillier might be a 65-year-old woman living in Paris , but for four hours each day she is transformed into the legendary Renaissance painter , Peter Paul Rubens . You would n't know it to look at her -- a former physics teacher with mousey brown hair and a cheeky gap-toothed smile . But over the last few months Avrillier has come to know Rubens intimately , recreating his every brush stroke , his every color choice . `` I live with him , '' she says . `` I become him . '' Avrillier is a copyist . And if you wander around the grand rooms of Paris ' Louvre gallery , you 'll see dozens of people just like her with their easels pitched in front of a masterpiece , paintbrush at the ready . Curious children scamper up to them , doing a double-take between the painting on the wall and the version being created before their eyes : `` What are you doing ? '' they ask . The copyists are recreating some of the most famous paintings in the world , in a remarkable tradition dating back to when the museum first opened in 1793 . Grand tradition . It 's a tradition that continues today -- albeit it , in a far more regimented fashion . Just 150 copyists are allowed in the Louvre , with a one-year waiting list for the privilege . Each canvas is signed , dated , and stamped three times before even a drop of paint hits it . And even then , it must not be the same size as the original or include the artist 's signature . Five-days-a-week , from 9.30am to 1.30pm , copyists stream into the most popular museum on the planet , using one of the easels and stools provided . There is one easel however , which never leaves the office -- the very same one renowned post-impressionist painter Paul Cezanne used 150 years ago . Mastering the masters . Indeed , Cezanne , who would often copy the great masters , once famously said : `` The Louvre is the book from which we learn to read . '' He was n't alone . Pablo Picasso also painted a fantastical version of Eugene Delacroix 's `` Women of Algiers . '' `` That bastard , '' Picasso reportedly said of Delacroix . `` He 's really good ! '' So why do these artists -- ranging from professionals painters , to students , and retirees -- spend painstaking hours perfecting what has arguably already been perfected ? `` You spend so much time in front of this painting , that little by little you understand what 's in it -- how he did it , the people in it , the historical context , '' explained Avrillier , who has completed five paintings from the Louvre , over four years . `` You find the right brush , the right colors , the right movement in your hand . You feel very close to them . '' Curious copyists . Of course , not everyone saw copyists in quite the same light . `` Poor ridiculous folk , picking up the crumbs and alms of art at the feet of the Gods , '' said the New York Times in 1887 . Today , many museum visitors appear baffled or intrigued to see the artists quietly working among the crowds , and children will often be the first to poke their head in . `` The children , they ca n't believe it , '' said Avrillier , who sometimes gives the youngsters a paint brush of their own . `` If you go into a museum and see paintings on the wall , you think you will never be able to do it . I say : 'But you can . ' `` Anyway , we are doing copies , we are not trying to say it 's a new Raphael , '' she added . It 's a date ? But the Louvre is n't just a giant studio for these artists -- it 's also a potential meeting place for single copyists . Or at least , that 's how 19th century French art critic and novelist Champfleury -- otherwise known as Jules-FranÃ§ois-FÃ©lix Husson -- reportedly saw it . `` Copy a painting next to hers , then ask to borrow some cadmium or cobalt . Then correct the odious mess of colors she calls a painting ( they 're always glad to get advice ) and talk about the Old Masters until the Louvre closes and you have to continue the conversation in the street . Improvise the rest , '' was supposedly his advice for meeting like-minded ladies . For Avrillier , love at the Louvre comes in a very different form -- her own paintings . The last picture she completed , a one-mete- tall copy of Correggio 's 16th century `` Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine , '' now sits proudly in her house . In fact , she ca n't bear to be apart from it . `` I love this painting so much , I put it in the room where I am , '' she says . Does that include moving it to her bedroom at night ? `` Yes ! '' she says .
Who are the Louvre 's copyists and why do they do it ? Since 1700s , artists have copied the gallery 's masterpieces . Famous copyists included Pablo Picasso and Paul Cezanne . Today , just 150 copyists allowed , one year waiting list .