Ernest Quost was born in Avallon in 1844.

Having studied under the artist H Aumont, Quost made his debut at the Paris Salon of 1866. Quost was essentially a Parisian painter. He revelled in capturing the life of the boulevards and Parisian society, flowers, fruits, still-lives, landscapes and portraits. Quost always drew many sketches which, as he wrote, were "to store up in their spirit the most memories of nature as possible. These sketches are the recollections one returns too in order to create a composition, inspired by their essence, nothing else " It was this Impressionist doctrine that he handed down to his pupil Montezin.

From 1897. Quost was a Societaire des Artistes Français and was awarded medals for his work in the years, 1880, 1882, 1889, 1890 and 1900 and was made a Chevalier and then Officier of the Legion d▓honneur in 1883 and 1903, respectively.

The Musee Marmottan hung a painting of flowers by Quost amongst the paintings collected for the exhibition entitled, "Claude Monet et ses amis" Indeed, Van Gogh alluded to a work of Quost, "aux roses du pere Quost", in a letter written to his brother, Theo.

Many of Quost's works were purchased by the State to decorate public buildings for example, Prefecture, Seine-et-Oise and the Museums. link