 Jouvenal was born in March 1829 in to Francois and Susanna (Giraud) Jouvenal.His parents were Huguenots who fled religious persecution in France and settled in Pinache (now the town of Wiernsheim) in the state of Baden in the German Confederation.When he was 16 years old, he moved to Stuttgart, capital of the neighboring German state of Württemberg, where he was trained as a sculptor.