Louis Coignard

Louis Coignard was the son of Élisabeth Sigoigne, the youngest daughter of a prominent bourgeois family from Mayenne, and Aimé Coignard, a bourgeois from Mayenne who had purchased nationalized property. His parents intended him for a career in law, but the young boy's only passion was painting.

He went to study in Paris in the studio of François Édouard Picot. He explored several pictorial genres but specialized in landscape painting. Coignard made his debut at the Salon of 1838. Edmond About wrote a eulogy for him. He won a third-place medal in 1846, a first-place medal in 1848, and an honorable mention in 1855. While working in Paris, his works were prized by the bourgeoisie of Mayenne and Sarthe.