Alexandre Gabriel Decamps was born in Paris on March 3, 1803. The French painter and caricaturist began with a traditional apprenticeship with Abel de Pujol, a pupil of "Jacques Louis David". During his trips through Greece and Asia Minor in 1827-28, he was fascinated above all by the oriental themes and scenery, which later kept surfacing in his works.
From 1832-33 the artist worked in Italy on a monumental painting in the antique manner. Besides his painting, his drawings and lithographs were accorded high respect. His graphic work "Scenes from Samson’s Life" from 1845 was praised highly by Charles Baudelaire and others.
The painter Alexandre Gabriel Decamps died in Fontainebleau on August 22, 1860.