Art critic, professor, curator. Michel was from a protestant family of Montpellier, where his grandfather had been a minister. After graduating with a degree in arts and history in Montpellier, he went to Paris in 1872 where he briefly studied law. He then enrolled in the école des Hautes études and the école des Beaux-Arts where he studied under Hippolyte Taine. In 1880 he settled in Paris where he became a contributor to various art magazines including the Gazette des Beaux-Arts and the Journal des Débats.