His father was of Corsican origin and held a high position in the railroad company.

He received his art instruction from Philippe-Auguste Jeanron at the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Marseille [fr].

Once he had become settled there, he took further lessons from Antoine Guillemet and made the acquaintance of several well known artists, including Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley and Claude Monet.

After a lengthy trip to Italy, he returned to Marseille where, in 1891, he married Constance Dutoint, a woman from Brussels he had met in Paris.

He and Constance spent several years in Belgium, where he painted in Bruges, Antwerp, Ghent and many other locations.