Émile Signol (1804 – 1892) was a French artist, born in Paris. Signol died in Montmorency, Val-d'Oise. Although he lived during the Romantic period, his classical background kept him from succumbing to Impressionism or Romanticism.
Signol painted a portrait of Hector Berlioz at the Académie de France à Rome, Villa Medici, during the composer's stay upon his winning the Grand Prix de Rome in 1832. Two years earlier, Signole had won the grand prize for the same competition's painting category with Titulus Crucis. Four of his paintings are housed at the Saint-Sulpice cathedral in Paris.
Elected in 1860, he held a first seat position at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
In 1862 , Pierre-Auguste Renoir studied under Signol and Charles Gleyre across from the Louvre at the École des Beaux-Arts. Signol and Glyere taught Jean-Jules-Antoine Lecomte du Nouÿ in 1861.
Signol is known to have occasionally written the letter "n" backwards in his signature, signifying his backwards way of life.