A painter, draughtsman and engraver of Belgian descent, Clément-Auguste Andrieux studied in Liège between 1862 and 1866 and then in Paris, entering the studio of William-Adolphe Bouguereau in 1867. He made a particular specialty of battle scenes, notably episodes from the Franco-Prussian war, the Crimean War and Napoleonic campaigns.

He achieved a measure of success early in his career, when one of his first exhibited works, a painting of The Capture of Sebastopol, was purchased by an English museum. Andrieux exhibited at the Salons in Paris from 1850 until his death, and also published a number of lithographs and engravings, including a set of thirty scenes illustrating the siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871.