Although he studied briefly with Etienne Bouhot (1780-1862) and then Alexandre-Denis Abel de Pujol (1787-1861), he was largely self-taught. He made only one visit to the Middle East, in 1828 (visiting Turkey, Greece and North Africa), but in the 1830s he established a considerable reputation as a painter of Orientalist themes and of religious subjects set in convincing locations. He visited Italy in 1835. His dry, impasted technique (known as his cuisine) has seldom lasted well.