Born in the Parisian suburb of Vaugirard, Léon Bonvin had artistic ambitions from an early age. He was largely self-taught, though his older half-brother François, who had garnered recognition among Paris's Realist painters, encouraged him and gave him supplies. Bonvin's earliest drawings were small, somber charcoal and ink sketches of his bleak environment. While earning his living as an innkeepe
