Boissieu was born at Lyon, and studied at the École Gratuite de Dessin in his home town, but was mostly self-taught. He spent his early career traveling through Europe and cultivating a special fondness for the Italian countryside. Boissieu preferred landscape painting and liked to sketch outdoors and then compose his landscape in the studio. He admired and studied the etchings of Rembrandt van Rijn, and his technique pays homage to the Dutch master’s style. Boissieu achieved great commercial and critical success; his studio was a popular stop for visitors to Lyons, and because his prints were widely distributed in the eighteenth century, his reputation flourished throughout Europe.