After displaying an early talent for drawing, his parents enrolled him in art classes. In 1843, he won first prize in the Biennial Design Contest at the Fondation Calvet, which came with a cash award that enabled him to continue his studies in Paris. There, he was a student at the École des Beaux-Arts, where he met and was influenced by Dominique Ingres, Eugène Delacroix and Hippolyte Flandrin. In 1848, at the outbreak of the February Revolution, he returned to Avignon. He became one of the first members of the Félibrige in 1854.