guidance from Riesener's cousin Eugène Delacroix.

Many of his paintings were influenced by his architecture studies. He made his debut at the Paris Salon of 1844 with Ruines d'un Temple dans l'Inde (Ruins of a Temple in India). He later exhibited landscape paintings of cities and villages and the interiors of churches. However, it was as a scenic designer that he achieved his primary fame. He studied the craft from 1842 under Charles Cicéri