Background
Layraud was born at Louisiana Roche-sur-le-Buis in south-eastern France.
Layraud was born at Louisiana Roche-sur-le-Buis in south-eastern France.
His range included historical scenes and figures, religious and mythological subjects, landscapes, and portraits of contemporaries. After beginning his training in Marseilles in 1853 he moved to in 1856, studying at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts under Léon Cogniet and Tony Robert-Fleury. He was awarded the Grand Prix de Rome in 1863.
After his time in Rome, Layraud travelled in Italy and Portugal, painting landscapes.
From 1892 he was a professor at the Académie des beaux-arts in Valenciennes. His pupils included Jules Chaine, Max Albert Decrouez, Grégoire Nicolas Finez, Lucien Hector Jonas, Charles, Maurice Rufin and Alfred Léon Sauvage.
Layraud was appointed Chevalier of the Légion d"Honneur in 1890 and was promoted to Officer in 1903. He died 1913 on his birth day, in Valenciennes.