Born in 1879, the illigitimate son of Count André Leonidas Hyacinthe Honoré Henri de La Ferriere Chastanet, Andre de Chastenet was educated in Paris at the  Lycee Janson-de-Sailly.

Two major influences on his early artistic development were the sculptors Barrias Louis Ernest and Alfred Lenoir. He worked in the Montparnasse district of Paris an artistic milieu of full of  fellow poets, writers, painters and sculptors during the Belle Epoque.

From 1900 to 1903 his studies were interupted by Military Service.  From 1904 onwards he exhibited successfully at The Salon of the National Society of Fine Arts alongside Bourdelle , Rodin , Maillol and Carpeau .  During this period he became much in demand as a portrait artist producing busts and profiles of Foch, Gauthier-Ferrieres , Albert Sorel , Francois Coppe , Louis Welden Hawkins , Roger Reboussin , Hans Eckegardh and  Leon Leclerc amongst others. The influx of commissions allowed  him to build a studio at 3 

Rue Victor Schoelcher , opposite Montparnasse cemetery.