Marie-François Firmin-Girard was born on 29 May 1838 in the village of Poncin, a hamlet in the Ain region of France adjacent to the Swiss border. By age sixteen, the ambitious young artist had left his hometown to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Initially he sought out the guidance of Charles Gleyre, the Swiss painter, who offered a traditional visual arts curriculum in an independent studio setting. Later, Firmin-Girard would study with Jean-Léon Gérôme, the academic master of orientalism and anecdotal history paintings.
More: https://artvee.com/artist/marie-francois-firmin-girard/
Sometimes I think I have a handle on the great artists from this or other periods, only to be reminded how glaringly incomplete my knowledge really is. All that to say ‘great piece!,’ effectively.