Alexandre Debelle

In 1830, he decided that he would rather be an artist and studied with Benjamin Rolland [fr], Curator of art at the Museum of Grenoble.

In addition to his early studies, he also worked with Antoine-Jean Gros and Camille Roqueplan but, in 1832, failed to qualify for admission to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

In 1853, upon Rolland's retirement, he was appointed Curator at the Museum of Grenoble and remained there until 1887, when he was eighty-two years old.

[1] While there, he promoted the work of local artists; including Jacques Gay, Jean Achard, Henri Blanc-Fontaine, Diodore Rahoult and Théodore Ravanat.

From 1870 to 1872, he and librarian Hyacinthe Gariel [fr] organized the museum's move to a new building, designed by Charles-Auguste Questel (now known as the Musée-bibliothèque de Grenoble).