Noticed by the Abbé de La Mésangère, he began publishing in the Journal des dames et des modes before collaborating with La Mode and other prestigious newspapers such as L'Artiste, L'Illustration and its Spanish equivalent La Ilustración. His full-page lithographs in Le Charivari are recognized as major works of French graphic art.
In the 1840s, he participated in the illustration of Léon Curmer's book "The French Painted by Themselves" and collaborated with Grandville on the publications of Pierre-Jules Hetzel, notably "The Devil in Paris," which brought together texts by Balzac, George Sand, and Charles Nodier. He was also the author of a unique literary collection, "The Twelve Months," published in 1869.
His official recognition came in 1852 with his appointment as a Knight of the Legion of Honour. Known for his iconic lithographic series such as "Les Enfants Terribles" and "Fourberies de Femmes", he developed a specialty in illustrating the Paris Carnival, of which he said ironically: "Carnival! It doesn't exist, I invented it at a cost of fifty francs per drawing!"
His Parisian life led him to reside in various neighborhoods, notably Montmartre and rue Saint-Lazare, with a difficult episode in 1835-1836 when he spent a year in debtors' prison on rue de Clichy. Closely connected with the Goncourt brothers who admired him, he died in November 1866 at 29 rue Chardon-Lagache, a few months after the tragic death of his youngest son Jean, aged 10. Father of the painter Pierre Gavarni (1846-1932), he is buried in the Auteuil cemetery, leaving a precious testimony to the Parisian society of his time.
