At the age of fifteen, Jules Flandrin started an apprenticeship as engraver-lithographer while still studying drawing. In 1893, he obtained a grant from Grenoble Town Council to study at the École des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. He studied under Gustave Moreau, whose studio at the École des Beaux-Arts he also attended. There he met Marquet, Matisse, Rouault and Guérin. He also had contacts with Puvis de Chavannes and became Maurice Denis' friend. In 1895, he met Jacqueline Marval, also a painter, whose life he would share for 35 years. He travelled to Italy at 38, exploring Venice, Florence and Rome. At 43, he saw action in the Somme and Champagne during World War I and drew the Poilus, his brothers in arms. In 1919, he opened a tapestry works, which he had to close in 1924. In 1931, he married a pupil, Henriette Deloras. From 1905 he worked on a mural composition, St Peter; St Paul; Coronation of the Virgin, for the church of his native Corenc, and in 1924 he painted two huge pieces commemorating the arrival of the Carthusians in the Dauphiné for the church of St Bruno in Grenoble.

In collective exhibitions he showed paintings and lithographs at the Salon du Champ de Mars, Paris, 1896; Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, of which he became an associate member, in 1897; Salon des Artistes Indépendants with the Fauves; Salon d'Automne; London, 1910; and thereafter in a number of cities in Europe and beyond, notably New York. A retrospective of his work was organised in Grenoble in 1972. In 1980, he featured in the exhibition 150 Years of Painting from the Dauphiné Region (150 Ans de Peinture Dauphinoise), at the Château de la Condamine, Mairie de Corenc, and in 1995 in the exhibition Girot, Marval, Flandrin, Mainssieux, at the Musée Mainssieux, Vairon (Isère).

His landscapes of his native Dauphiné and Italy demonstrate Maurice Denis' touch. Though in contact with the Fauves he favoured a classical approach, taking his inspiration, he claimed, from nature alone.

Museum and Gallery Holdings

Chambéry (MBA): The Painter with the Chasseurs Alpins; Horsemen in the Woods

Paris (MNAM-CCI): Road to the Grande Chartreuse; By the Fountain, Morning