Swiss painter, active mainly in Paris, where he enjoyed a successful career, particularly with anecdotal scenes, sometimes in an antique setting, and portraits. He was a renowned teacher and when Delaroche closed down his teaching studio in 1843, the majority of his students transferred to Gleyre. He taught Whistler and several of the impressionists - Bazille, Monet, Renoir, and Sisley - and although his own paintings were conventional, he encouraged open-air painting. Renoir, however, said that his main strength as a teacher was that he left his pupils 'pretty much to their own devices'. Gleyre closed his studio in 1864 because of an eye ailment. //