Short answers, pulled from the story.
Joseph-Noël Sylvestre (the 24th of June 1847 - the 29th of October 1926) was a French painter known for his depictions of scenes from classical antiquity. He was an exponent of Academic art, also called art pompier, and studied under Thomas Couture in Toulouse and Alexandre Cabanel at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
Joseph-Noël Sylvestre was born on the 24th of June 1847 in Béziers, in South-West France.
Sylvestre trained first under Thomas Couture in Toulouse, then under Alexandre Cabanel at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
Art pompier, meaning "fireman's art," is another name for the romantic Academic art style, which featured classical and historical subjects rendered in a grand, detailed manner. Sylvestre was a noted exponent of this style, producing paintings of ancient Roman and Gaulish scenes.
His notable works include the Death of Seneca (1875), The Gaul Ducar Decapitates the Roman General Flaminius at the Battle of Trasimene (1882), The Sack of Rome by the Barbarians in 410 (1890), and François Rude Working on the Arc de Triomphe (1893).
Joseph-Noël Sylvestre died on the 29th of October 1926.