A contemporary of the Impressionists, the French artist Henri Fantin-Latour was notable for his flower paintings and group portraits of the Paris intellectuals of the period.
The son of Théodore Fantin-Latour, also an artist, who initiated him in the art of painting, he studied at the École de Dessin in Paris.
However, he derived his real training from copying the classical works of the Great Masters in the Musée du Louvre, particularly Titian and Veronese.
Later, in 1861, he was a disciple of Gustave Courbet for a while, although his discreet, intimate realism was very different from that of his master and caused them to go their separate ways very soon.