DEMON, DOMINIQUE VIVANT, BARON, was born of a noble family at Chalons-Bur-Saone, on the 4th of January 1747. From his early youth his bias was for the arts of design, but he for some years devoted himself to them as an amateur only, and as such was early distinguished for his taste and judgment in matters of virt.; Louis XV. employed bim to make a collection of antique gems for Madame Pom padour. He commenced however his active career in life as a diplo matist, and was first attached to the Russian embassy. Upon the accession of Louis XVI., be found a valuable patron in the minister for foreign affairs, the Comte de Vergennes, who sent Denon on a mission to Switzerland, when be took the opportunity of visiting Voltaire at Ferney, and drew a portrait of him, which was engraved by St. A ubin. He was next sent by his patron to Naples, as aocretary to the embassy under the Comte Clermont d'Amboisc. He lived seven years at Naples, and devoted much of his time to the study of the arts, especially etching and mezzotint engraving. The death of the Comte do Vergennes (1787) caused his recal to Paris, and put an end to his diplomatical career. He thenceforth adopted the arte of design as his profession; and through the influence of his friend Quatremere de Quincy, he was elected a member of the Royal Academy of the Arts. Returning to Italy, he spent five years at Venice, and some time at Florence; and then visited Switzerland, where he learned that his property had been sequestered, and his name enrolled iu the list of emigrants. Notwithstanding this threatening state of his affairs, he ventured to make his appearance at Paris, where, but for the assistance of the painter David, be would have been destitute. David contrived to have his name erased from the list of emigrants, and procured him an order from the government to design and engrave a set of repub lican costumes. He was engaged in this occupation during the horrors of the Revolution.
After the more violent features of the Revolution had subsided, the house of Madame Beauharnais was a centre of attraction where the most distinguished men in politics, art, literature, and science fre quently met ; and here Denon became acquainted with Bonaparte. Denon was a most devoted admirer of the great general, and when Napoleon asked him, in 1798, to accompany him on his expedition to Egypt, Denon, though in his fifty-first year, embraced the opportunity with the utmost enthusiasm. He accompanied General Desaix in his expedition into Upper Egypt; and during the whole stay of Napoleon in the East he was indefatigable in drawing all the most interesting and striking Egyptian monuments. He returned with Napoleon to France, and in the short space of about two years published his great work on Egypt—' Voyage delis la Buse et la Haute Egypt, pendant lea Campagnes du Gdndral Bonaparte,' 2 vols. folio, 1802 ; a second
edition in 4to was published in the same year, and a smaller edition in 1804. A very elegant 4to edition was published in London, in 1802, by 3L Peltier, with several appendices by various members of the Egyptian Commission, or Institut du Caire, in addition to Denon's journal, the original text. This work, which, as the production of an individual, is a noble monument of zeal, industry, and ability, professes to be simply descriptive of what Denon saw and what happened to him ; he desiguedly abstained from all hypothesis, whether with reference to origin, object, or principle. About the time of the publi cation of this work, Denon was appointed by Napoleon directeur g6u6ral des Mus6es, a poet of great influence, and one for which he was well fitted. Denon accompanied Bonaparte in the campaigns of Austria, Spain and Poland, and is said to have made his sketches from the most exposed place on the field of battle. To Denon was assigned the duty of pointing out to the emperor the principal objects of art which it was desirable to select from the various conquered cities for the imperial collections in the Louvre. At the Restoration Denou was dismissed from his post as directeur-g6n6ral des mus6ea. In his retirement, he occupied himself in preparing a general history of art, for which he prepared, by the assistance of able artists, many lithographic drawings, but he did not live to complete the text. The incomplete work was published by his nephews, in 1829, in 4 vols. folio, under the title 3Ionumens des Arts du Desein, chez lea peuplea, taut anciena que modesties, rccueillis par Is Baron de Denou, pour servir lt l'Histoire des Arts,' &c. Denim died at Paris iu 1825.
Denon's etchings are numerous, amounting to upwards of 300; they are chiefly in imitation of the style of Rembrandt, and consist of portraits, historical and genre pieces, from Italian and Flemish masters. Besides his Voyage in Egypt, he is author of the following literary productions :—' Julio ou Le Bon Pere,' a comedy iu three acts, 1769; Voyage en Sicile et it Melte,' 1788; ' Discoure sur sea Monumens d'Antiquit6s arriv6s d'Italie,' 1804 ; several biographical notices of painters in the 'Clalerie des Hammes c61ebres ; and ' Point de Lendemain,' a tale, 1812.
He was Membre de flustitut, of the class of fine arta, officer of the Legion d'Honneur, and knight of the Russian order of St. Anne, and of the Bavarian crown. He was created baron by Napoleon.
(Kunilblatt, 1825; Biographic Universelle, Suppl.)