Victor Tardieu (France, 1870-1937) was born in a family of Lyon silk merchants in April 1870 and joined the Lyon École des Beaux-Arts at an early age. In 1892, he moved to Paris to work in Bonnat's studio.

Most notably he painted the great ports: (Gènes, London, Liverpool) and on his return to Paris in 1906, he carried out a vast fresco (160m2) for the town hall at Lilas on the theme of "the times of Paul de Bock", as well as doing numerous portraits.

In 1925, he became the director of the École des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine which he established through his own initiative and with the collaboration and support of Nguyen Nam Son.