Meant to develop as an artist (5)
I believe the answer is:
manet
'an artist' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'meant to develop' is the wordplay.
'to develop' indicates anagramming the letters.
'meant' with letters rearranged gives 'MANET'.
'as' is the link.
(Other definitions for manet that I've seen before include "artistic individual" , "Edouard - - (painter)" , "Olympia painter" , "Edouard ---, pre-impressionist" , "Olympia artist" .)