Charles Sellier (painter)

After being apprenticed to a house-painter, he was enrolled at the "École des beaux-arts de Nancy" from 1846 to 1852, where he studied with Louis Leborne (1796-1865), who arranged for him to continue his artistic education with a municipal grant.

[1] In 1852, he moved to Paris, where he found a position in the workshops of Léon Coignet and, later that year, entered the École des Beaux-Arts.

[2] Two years later, he made his first attempt at the Prix de Rome with a canvas depicting Abraham washing the feet of the three angels.

[3] Sellier's painting of Lazarus Raised from the Dead was a controversial winner, as its deep chairoscuro was contrary to the academic tradition; the critic Paul Mantz termed it "a most strange phantasmagoria" and detected the influence of Rembrandt.

[4] From 1858 to 1863, Sellier studied in Rome at the French Academy, but made few friends and found that his work was not appreciated by Jean-Victor Schnetz, the Director.