François Gérard
François Gérard was born on May 4, 1770. See ranking, bio blurb, and everyone else born that day.
About François Gérard
François Pascal Simon Gérard (French pronunciation: [fʁɑ̃swa paskal simɔ̃ ʒeʁaʁ], 4 May 1770 – 11 January 1837), titled as Baron Gérard in 1809, was a French painter. He was born in Rome, where his father occupied a post in the house of the French ambassador, and his mother was Italian. A student of Jacques-Louis David, Gérard became one of the leading painters of the First French Empire (1804–1815) and the Bourbon Restoration (1815–1830). Court painter to Emperor Napoleon and later First Painter to Kings Louis XVIII and Charles X, Gérard enjoyed great renown across Europe. Nicknamed “the painter of kings, the king of painters”, he was the portraitist of choice for many European royal families. His salon was one of the most celebrated of its time and welcomed the some of the era’s most eminent figures. After he was made a baron of the Empire in 1809 by Emperor Napoleon, he was known formally as Baron Gérard.