He came to Paris as a young man in 1868 and studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts under Gerome. The following year, two of his paintings were accepted for the Salon, Woman with a parrot and Reception intime. He became successful and fashionable in England, which he visited in 1874, as well as in France. In the same year Degas, whom he knew as well as Manet, persuaded him to exhibit one of his paintings at the first Impressionist exhibition, but Renoir felt the picture was too academic in style and only agreed to have it hung after the exhibition had opened. Nittis decided therefore not to take part in the second Impressionist exhibition and took up a more 'official' line in his work. He enjoyed considerable success and to Degas' intense disgust, he was awarded the Legion d'honneur two years later. In 1882 he and Georges Petit, Durand-Ruel's great rival, founded the Exposition Internationale. His views of Paris and London, usually with elegant female figures in the foreground, enjoyed a considerable success at the time.

Based on Phaidon encyclopedia of Impressionism, Maurice Serullaz, Phaidon, 1978