Narcisse-Virgilio Díaz de la Peña (1808-1876) was born in 1808 in Bordeaux, of Spanish parents who had fled the Peninsular Wars.
After their early deaths, he grew up in foster care at Meudon.
At thirteen, an infection, caused by an insect sting or snake bite, necessitated the amputation of his left leg.
In 1823 he began an apprenticeship in painting on porcelain at a china factory in Paris, where he met Jules Dupré (1811-1889), who was to become his lifelong friend.