Gandville trained in drawing and water-painting at his father's studio in the city of Nancy, in eastern France. He went on to become a well-known caricaturist and illustrator. His animal-insired satires in Métamorphoses du jour (Metamorphoses of the Day, 1829) first brought him fame, which was further enhanced by his illustrations for the Fables by Jean de la Fontaine (1838). Hetzel chose him as the sole illustrator for his Scènes de la vie privée publique et des animaux (Scenes from Animals' Private and Public Lives), an editorial undertaking to which Balzac also contributed. When his book Another World, inspired by his dreams and nightmares, was rediscovered, the Surrealists recognized Gandville as a precursor of their movement.