Xavier Sigalon was born in Uzès, Gard, towards the end of 1787, son of a poor rural schoolmaster.

Both these works showed incontestable power; but the Vision of St Jerôme, which appeared at the Salon of 1831, and the Crucifixion, were much the most individual of all his achievements.

[1] In 1833 Adolphe Thiers, then minister of the interior, recalled Sigalon to Paris and entrusted him with the task of copying the Sistine fresco of The Last Judgement for a hall in the Palace of the Fine Arts.

[3] When Sigalon exhibited his gigantic work in the Baths of Diocletian at Rome, he was visited in state by Gregory XVI.

He returned to Rome some time later to copy the pendants of the Sistine Chapel, but succumbed to an attack of cholera on 18 August 1837.