Pierre Puvis de Chavannes

Pierre Puvis de Chavannes was born into a bourgeois family. His father intended his son to enroll at the École Polytechnique in Paris. After a prolonged illness, however, Puvis instead entered the Faculté de Droit. He became interested in art during a trip to Italy in 1846, and the following year he began studying with Henri Scheffer (1798-1862). Puvis returned to Italy in 1848 with Louis Bauderon de Vermeron (1809-1870), where he became interested in the art of mural painting. He entered the atelier of Delacroix (q.v.) for only two weeks, and later that of Couture (q.v.) for three months....