François DUMONT (Lunéville 1751-Paris 1831)

Portrait of an artist with a scarf Watercolour and gouache on ivory, gold frame. Signed and dated in the centre right Dumont/1793. On the reverse side of the mount, work of hair braided in a chequered pattern. Diameter: 7 cm François DUMONT (Lunéville 1751-Paris 1831) (lots 115 and 120) Born in Lorraine, like many of the great miniaturists of the period, François Dumont learned to draw with Jean Girardet, the ordinary painter of King Stanislas. In 1768, he came to Paris. There he met Joseph Vernet and the architect Mique, who had already known him in Nancy. It is probably the latter who introduced him to the princely circles. Dumont's rise was very rapid. In less than five years, for members of the high aristocracy and the royal family, in particular for the Countess of Artois who introduced him, it seems, to Marie-Antoinette. The queen made him one of her favorite miniaturists. In 1788, Dumont was accepted by the Academy. He continued to work during the Revolution, but did not succeed in being admitted to the imperial court. At the Restoration, he worked again for the Bourbons. We also owe him many portraits of his fellow artists.