Hippolyte Victor Valentin Sébron

Sébron was born in Caduebec-en-Caux, France. He trained with Leon Cogniet at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris. He debuted at the Salon in Paris in 1825, showing landscapes painted during travels throughout Europe. In 1827, Sébron began working with the scenographer and photographic pioneer Louis-Jacques Mande Daguerre. He painted at least fourteen of thirty large-scale paintings measuring sixty-five by forty feet depicting scenery under dramatic lighting (achieved by using transparencies) for another of Daguerre’s inventions, the diorama. 

By the time Sébron arrived New York City in 1849, he was a highly accomplished academic artist and decorative painter. Having observed the business acumen of Daguerre, Sébron proved a sophisticated businessman, spending the next six years traveling in the United States and Canada, though most of his time was spent in New York and New Orleans. Sébron returned to France in 1855. He continued to travel, painting landscapes and interiors marked by intense chiaroscuro effects. He died in Paris in 1879.