| Timeline |
| 1796 |
Born 16 July in Paris |
| 1815 |
Apprenticed to a cloth merchant |
| 1822 |
Decides a painting career, enters the studio of Michallon |
| 1822 |
Moves to the studio of Jean-Victor Bertin |
| 1825 |
Spends three years in Italy |
| 1827 |
Sends two paintings back to the Salon |
| 1844 |
Friends with Théodore Rousseau |
| 1845 |
Commissioned by the city of Paris to paint an altarpiece for a Parisian church |
| 1848 |
Elected to the Salon Jury in this year and again in 1849 |
| 1850 |
Establishes a friendship with Millet |
| 1854 |
Visits Auvers with Daubigny, also travels in Holland and Belgium |
| 1855 |
Wins a first-class medal at the Exposition Universelle |
| 1862 |
Meets Courbet while working at Saintonge |
| 1875 |
Dies 22 February in Paris |
