Descended from the Counts of Joux, Claude Dejoux was born into a family of poor farmers.

[1] He was apprenticed to the sculptor Guillaume Coustou the Younger (1716–1777), where he met Pierre Julien (1731–1804).

[4] His morceau de réception for the academy was a marble sculpture of Saint Sébastien, 1.05 metres (3 ft 5 in) high, now held in the Louvre.

Dejoux was professor of David d'Angers, and supported him when he applied for a scholarship from the town of Angers.

[4] After Julien's death in 1804, Dejoux made a mausoleum ornamented with his portrait, which was erected in the garden of the Musée des monuments français.