David Bles

David Bles was born to a merchant I.

[1] According to the Netherlands Institute for Art History, at the age of thirteen Bles was talented enough to be accepted at the Hague Academy.

[2] Bles then travelled to France to study with Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury in Paris.

He remained in Paris until 1843 after which he settled in The Hague, though he was a member of the Royal Academy in Amsterdam between 1845 and 1899.

In 1859, he was elected an honorary associate of the Imperial Academy of Arts.