Editing Charles Percier (section)

=== Schooling and early career ===
From the age of 12 onward, Percier attended a free school for teaching drawing, an establishment whose mission was to provide access into the art world for poor students. Percier's talent was quickly recognised.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Vie de Charles Percier (1764-1838) |url=https://www.institutdefrance.fr/publications/vie-de-charles-percier-1764-1838/ |access-date=2024-08-06 |website=Institut de France |language=fr-FR}}</ref> After passing a short time in the studio of a painter named Lagrenée, a place was found for him in the highly respected studio of the renowned architect, [[Antoine-François Peyre]].<ref name=":4" /> It was there that he met [[Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine|Pierre Fontaine]], with whom he would form a life-long and very successful partnership. Starting in 1794, Fontaine and Percier worked so closely together that it is often difficult to separate their contributions.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |date=1881 |title=The Style of "The Empire" |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25627430 |journal=The Art Amateur |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=11–11 |issn=2151-8246}}</ref> A 19th century observer noted the following about their intertwined careers: "It is surprising what a complete mastery these young men in a few years contrived to exercise over the tastes of their day."<ref name=":52">{{Cite journal |date=1881 |title=The Style of "The Empire" |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25627430 |journal=The Art Amateur |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=11–11 |issn=2151-8246}}</ref> 

Percier won the second [[prix de Rome]] in 1783, and, in 1784, at the age of twenty years, he won the grand prix de Rome (with a pension). This paid for his stay in Rome.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Raoul-Rochette |date=1840 |title=Percier. Sa vie et ses ouvrages |url=https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Charles_Percier,_architecte |journal=période initiale |pages=246–268}}</ref> Fontaine had won the second prix de Rome a year earlier and was already in Rome.<ref name=":5" /> Percier returned to Paris from Rome in 1791.<ref name=":1" />

One early product of their collaboration was ''Palais, maisons et autres édifices modernes dessinés à Rome'' ("A palace, houses and other modern buildings designed in Rome"), which attracted the attention of prospective clients when they returned to Paris. At the end of 1792, near the end of the first phase of the [[French Revolution]], Percier was appointed to supervise the scenery at the [[Académie Royale de Musique#Principal venues of the Académie|Paris Opéra]], a post at the center of innovative design. Fontaine returned from the security of London and they continued at the Opéra together until 1796. {{ill|Charles-Louis Bernier|fr}} was a third member of their team.