Camille Pissarro

At Paul Durand-Ruel’s request, Pissarro summarised his own biography in the following way: “Born at St. Thomas (Danish Antilles) on 10 July 1830. Came to Paris in 1841 to enrol in the Savary boarding school in Passy. In 1847 I returned to St. Thomas, where I began to draw while employed in a business firm. In 1852 I gave up business and left with Mr Fritz Melbye, a Danish painter, for Caracas (Venezuela), where I lived until 1855. I returned to St. Thomas to work in business. I finally returned to France at the end of 1855 in time to see the Paris Universal Exhibition.