Raised in an environment dominated by the great personalities of the leading French Impressionists of the second half of the 19th century, such as Monet, Van Gogh, and Cézanne, after a trip to Germany (1896) and a long stay in Italy, he turned towards archaic forms, sometimes even recalling those of the Nazarenes. Particularly noteworthy are his paintings of the apse of the church of the Holy Spirit in Paris (1933-34), that of the apse of the church of St Paul in Geneva, the celebratory ones of St Joan of Arc and of the dead of the Great War in the church of Cagny (Somme), and the one depicting Jesus and a group of workers in the “Salle du travail” in Geneva.
From 1919, together with G. O. Desvallières, he founded the “Ateliers d’art sacré,” which carried out notable activity in favour of sacred art in France.