Jules-Joseph Guiffrey (29 November 1840 – 26 November 1918) was a 19th-century French art historian, a member of the Académie des beaux-arts.

While studying law (he graduated in 1861[1]), he was a student at the École nationale des chartes where he obtained his diploma of archivist paleographer in 1863 with a thesis entitled Examen du traité qui réunit le Dauphiné à la France et des négociations qui l’ont précédé et suivi (1349).

[2] In 1866 he was appointed an archivist of the Emperor's archives then at the Archives nationales in the Legislative and Judicial department, where he did much of his career.

[1] In 1893, he was appointed administrator of the manufacture nationale des Gobelins[1] Throughout his career, he conducted research in art history - sometimes at the expense of its archival activity.

[1] He was made an officer of Instruction publique in 1883, chevalier (1884) then officier (1897) of the Légion d'honneur.