Fleury-Richard received his first lessons in Lyon, a silk-producing town, but he was mainly formed by his time in the neoclassical atmosphere of David's studio.

His visit to the Musée des monuments français, where he saw the tomb of Valentina Visconti on display, inspired his first major work in a utopian and melancholic Troubadour style, which also originated in David's studio.

[1] Richard was notably amazed by the works attributed to the king-poet "bon Roi René" and most particularly by his art history treatise Le Cuer d’amours espris.

When some scholars at the start of the 20th century sought to connect him to the école lyonnaise despite his training in Paris, his national career and his painting – the historical genre was not specific to Lyon.

[3] In Fleury-Richard's critical writings scholars find a reflection prefiguring his attachment to Symbolism before it existed: "Painting is not an imitation of reality.