As a very young man in 1854, Firmin Girard entered the studios of Charles Gleyre and Jean Léon at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He won the second Prix de Rome in 1861 and set up a studio in the Boulevard de Clichy. With equal facility he painted history pictures, genre scenes, landscapes, portraits and still-lifes, and his flower paintings gained him a high reputation. Among his many works are: St Sebastian; After the Ball; Death of the Princess de Lamballe; Woman Selling Flowers; Dreaming; The Fiancés; 18th-Century Wedding; 18th-Century Baptism; On the Terrace in Onival; Fishing; Château de Gatelier, Autumn; Flower Quay; Shepherd from Onival.

He exhibited from 1859 at the Salon de Paris and later at the Salon des Artistes Français, where he won a third-class medal in 1863 and a second-class medal in 1874; he was also awarded a bronze medal at the 1900 Exposition Universelle.

Museum and Gallery Holdings

Avignon (Mus. Calvet): Paul Vayson
Bourges: A Marriage in Extremis
Helsinki: Paris Street
Mayenne: Evening by the Sea