French painter, taught as a child by his father, Jean-Théodore Fantin-Latour until joining the Petite Ecole de Dessin in Paris (1850-56) and studying under Horace Lecocq de Boisbaudran, learning the techniques of the Old Masters by copying their works and styles, his favorites being the Italian painters, Titian and Veronese.   His works included a series of Self Portraits (1854-61).   In 1859 he met Gustave Courbet and was his pupil for a few months learning how to calm the harshness of his Master's with a softness and intimacy clearly reflected in his series of  "reading"  paintings.