Pierre-Cécile Puvis de Chavannes

Puvis was born at Lyon and trained in Paris by Henri Scheffer (1846/8). He spent a year in Italy and received further training with Delacroix and Couture, though the main influence on his style was that of Chassériau. His work failed to gain acceptance at the Salon until 1859.

The paintings for which he later became best known were decorations (usually in fresco) carried out in Paris (at the Panthéon, the Sorbonne and the Hotel de Ville) and in Amiens, Poitiers, Lyon and Rouen. He became a Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur in 1867 and a Commandeur in 1889. He founded, with Rodin and Meissonier, the Société nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1890 .