According to Perronneau's primary biographers, Léandre Vaillat and Paul Ratouis de Limay (in second edition), Perronneau was born in Paris in 1715 and died in Amsterdam "inconnu" in November of 1783 at age 68. He married Louise-Charlotte Aubert in November 1754. Perronneau seems to have studied at the Royal Academy with Charles-Joseph Natoire and Laurent Cars. It is unclear if he followed through with the entire course of study at the Academy. He studied engraving and produced prints until 1744 with Huquier on rue Saint-Jacques. In August 1746 he was agrée at the Academy, and submitted two oil portraits, of Oudry and Adam l'aine, as his reception pieces nearly seven years later. 1750 marks the infamous Salon in which Perronneau exhibited his portrait of Maurice Quentin de la Tour and La Tour exhibited his own self portrait. Scholarship is unclear about the events leading up to this confrontation of portraits; some believe La Tour maliciously set out to teach the 10 year younger Perronneau who was the master and who was the student.