 Originally, he wanted to be a sailor, but his father insisted that he study painting; a turnabout from the usual situation where the family opposes an artistic career in favor of something more practical.After studying with his father and copying the Old Masters at the Louvre, he began sharing a studio with the landscape painter, Xavier Leprince at Honfleur, in 1824, then moved to Saint-Siméon after Leprince's untimely death.The following year, he sent some landscapes to the Salon for his first formal exhibition.