Jules-Eugène Lenepveu began his training in 1834 at the art academy in Angers. In 1837, a scholarship enabled him to move to Paris, where he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts and worked in the studio of François-Edouard Picot. His first commission were frescoes in the church of Notre-Dame in Chantilly. In 1842 and 1847, he took part in the Paris Salon. In 1847, he also won the Prix de Rome and spent the next five years in Rome. He made use of this time to travel around Italy and copy the masters of the Italian Renaissance. On his return to Paris, Lenepveu produced a Crucifixion for the Palais de Justice and, in 1855, he presented his work Martyrs in the Catacombs at the Universal Exhibition. In addition to his history scenes and religious paintings, which are characterised by a rather eclectic style, Lenepveu's portraits are particularly noteworthy. Despite the fact that Lenepveu received many public commissions in Paris, some works of which are still exhibited in situ today, and although he won numerous awards and honours, he never really became famous and quickly fell into obscurity after his death.