Mathurin Cherpitel was the son of a master carpenter who helped to build the Rue de Bourgogne in Paris.
Cherpitel followed the teachings of Jacques Francois Blondel, and spent three years working as a draftsman for Ange-Jacques Gabriel, before winning the Prix de Rome in 1758.
During this time, he also drafted plans for a reconstruction of the Hotel Locmaria on the Rue de l'Université for the Duke of Harcourt.
In 1766, he participated in the competition for the reconstruction of the Hotel d'Uzes, on the Rue Montmartre, which was won by Claude Nicolas Ledoux.
His most important public building was the Église Saint-Pierre-du-Gros-Caillou [fr], built in 1775, but destroyed in 1798 and later replaced with a new design.