Painter; b. Sainte-Anne (Guadeloupe) the illegitimate son of a French lawyer and a freed black slave, to France in 1774; pupil of Doyen (q.v). Second Grand Prix de Rome (1784) and student at the Académie de France in Rome (1786-91). Made his debut at the Salon in 1793. Art consultant to Lucien Bonaparte (q.v.) in Spain, 1800/02. Became Director of the Académie in 1807. Member of the Institut, 1818. Died of cholera.
