François Dumont

François Dumont

Dumont, François
(Lunéville 1751-1831 Paris)
Dumont had his first art lessons in Lunéville with the sculpturer Mathis and later on with Girardet in Nancy. He travelled to Paris when he was 17 years old where he soon became a successful miniature painter; from 1786 onwards he was court painter from Marie-Antoinette. He spent some time in Rome in 1786 and became a member of the Royal Academy. He married Nicole Vestier, daughter of the miniature painter Antoine Vestier in 1789 and received an appartment in Louvre from Ludwig XVI. Although he was connected with the high aristocracy in Ancien Régime, Dumont was arrested in September 1793, yet was released later. Dumont exhibited in Salon from 1789 to 1831.The artist not only painted miniatures, but also portraits in oil. Apparently he didn' t give lessons, yet the miniature painters Tony Dumont and Louis Alexandre are marked as his pupils in the Livret of the salon.