Pierre Puvis was educated at the Amiens College and at the Lycée Henri IV in Paris, and was intended to follow his father's profession when a serious illness interrupted his studies, and was compelled to convalesce at Mâcon between 1844 and 1845, with his brother and sister in law.
A journey to Italy opened his mind to fresh ideas, and on his return to Paris in 1846 he announced his intention of becoming a painter, and went to study first under Eugène Delacroix (very briefly, as Delacroix closed his studio shortly afterwards due to ill health), Henri Scheffer, and then under Thomas Couture.
