Life

His father was an art dealer and his mother was an artist. He studied under Callet then under Gabriel-François Doyen. In 1774 he won second prize in the prix de Rome

Prix de Rome

The Prix de Rome was a scholarship for arts students, principally of painting, sculpture, and architecture. It was created, initially for painters and sculptors, in 1663 in France during the reign of Louis XIV. It was an annual bursary for promising artists having proved their talents by...

 (first prize that year went to Jacques-Louis David

Jacques-Louis David

Jacques-Louis David was an influential French painter in the Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era...

), then in 1775 he won first prize with Haman confounded by Esther before Ahasuerus, beating Jean-Baptiste Regnault

Jean-Baptiste Regnault

Jean-Baptiste Regnault was a French painter.Regnault was born in Paris, and began life at sea in a merchant vessel. At the age of fifteen his talent attracted attention, and he was sent to Italy by M. de Monval under the care of Bardin...

. Under the French Revolution

French Revolution

The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

 he and Wicar administrated the central museum of arts (what would become the musée du Louvre) and members of the temporary arts commission. On the Bourbon Restoration

Bourbon Restoration

The Bourbon Restoration is the name given to the period following the successive events of the French Revolution , the end of the First Republic , and then the forcible end of the First French Empire under Napoleon  – when a coalition of European powers restored by arms the monarchy to the...

 he became professor in the école royale gratuite de dessin at Saint-Quentin

Saint-Quentin

Places called Saint-Quentin include:*Saint-Quentin, Aisne, Aisne, Picardie, France*Saint-Quentin, New Brunswick, Canada*Saint-Quentin Parish, New Brunswick, CanadaSaint-Quentin is part of the name of several places, including:...

.

Source

• Journal des artistes : Volume 1, 1838 Nécrologie page 272 online version
• Bucely d'Estrée Notice sur Mr Bonvoisin Mémoires de la Société académique des sciences, arts, belles-lettres, agriculture et industrie de Saint-Quentin 1839 page 245 online version