It has been noted that Jacques Martin was admired by his peers, Auguste Renoir and Puvis de Chavannes. Martin was a pre-eminent painter of floral still lifes, many of which are in museum collections throughout France. His original training was as a chemical engineer but he switched mid-stream and was self-taught in the field of art. Martin kept abreast all the avant-garde movements of the day such as Impressionism and adopted these techniques as they emerged.
While he was most celebrated for his floral motifs, he is recognized as a painter of genre, landscapes and portraits as well. He came to figure very prominently within the Lyonnaise school, as one of the more progressive and talented in terms of employing the new Impressionist techniques.
He was a regular exhibitor at the Salon des Indépendants in Paris and the Lyon Salon from 1881 onward.