Jacques Dumont le Romain

Jacques Dumont, known as «le Romain», was a French painter, engraver and draughtsman who worked in Paris for much of the eighteenth century. He took the nickname from his youthful years in Rome, which also distinguished him from other artists named Dumont. Son of the sculptor Pierre Dumont, he joined the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in 1728 with Hercules and Omphale as his reception piece, and his caustic wit earned him a formidable reputation among his colleagues.

In 1731 he became painter to the Aubusson tapestry manufactory, a post he held until 1755. There he produced cartoons and trained a school of designers that raised the quality of the work. He also practised etching, reproducing some of his own paintings. Among his works are Glaucus and Scylla (1726), Mucius Scaevola (1747) and Allegory of the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (1761). In 1749 he was appointed governor of the École royale des élèves protégés, but withdrew after three months.

Though comparatively unknown today, he enjoyed considerable fame and a long career. His pupil Louis Joseph Watteau trained under him, and he died in Paris in 1781.