Thomas Couture 21st December, 1815 - 30th March, 1879

Thomas Couture was an influential French historic painter and teacher who studied in Paris during the 1830s.

He failed the prestigious Prix de Rome competition at the École six times, but he felt the problem was with the École, not himself. Couture finally did win the prize in 1837.

Courture established his own workshop which was set to challenge the École des Beaux-Arts by nurturing and teaching the best new historical painters in France. This innovative move gained him a lot of attention and he received several commissions from the government and churches. These turned out to be unsuccessful so he left Paris and returned home, where he died in 1879.