Thomas Couture, a French painter, born in Senlis, Dec. 21, 1815. He was successively a pupil of Gros and Delaroche, but developed about the age of 25 a style very different from theirs, and distinguished by rich coloring and singular freedom of handling. His first work conspicuous for these qualities was "The Love of Gold," exhibited in 1844; and in 1847 he rose suddenly to great reputation by the production of his "Romans of the Decadence," a large picture suggested by a distich of Juvenal, and which gained him a medal of the first class and the cross of the legion of honor. He has never surpassed this effort. His subsequent works have been produced at irregular intervals, and comprise "The Falconer," "Enrollment of Volunteers," "Return of Troops from the Crimea," and " Baptism of the Prince Imperial," the two latter being commissions from Napoleon III. He has also decorated the chapel of the Virgin at St. Eustache. Couture has educated many pupils, and exercises a considerable influence over contemporary art.

In 1867 he published an essay on art entitled Entretiens d'atelier, which attracted much attention among artists and literary men.