Eugène Samuel Auguste Fromentin, born October 24, 1820 in La Rochelle (Charente-Maritime), where he died August 27, 1876, is a French painter and writer. He is one of the major representatives of orientalist painting.

He is the son of Pierre-Samuel-Toussaint Fromentin-Dupeux (1786-1867), doctor and amateur painter, and Françoise-Jenny Billotte (1797-1867). After a brilliant schooling, Eugène Fromentin went to Paris in November 1839 where he obtained a law degree at the beginning of 1843. His father then gave him authorization to enter the studio of the painter Jean-Charles Rémond which he soon left for that of the landscaper Louis-Nicolas Cabat.