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Jules Chardigny was born in London in 1842. He was the son of the sculptor Pierre Joseph Chardigny. Initially a pupil of his father, he later moved to France and studied under Thomas Couture. Chardigny was both a sculptor and painter. He began exhibiting in 1864 in the Salon and then again in 1885. As a sculptor, he mainly produced busts and, as a painter, he specialized in portraits of terriers, hounds and many other breeds in a realistic style. His expressive, head-on portraits were often diminutive in size and his larger compositions were frequently of a couple of French hounds. His paintings gained popularity in the 1870 -1880’s and he was known to repeat some compositions multiple times to satisfy his clientele.