Vivant Denon
French artist, writer, diplomat, author, and archaeologist (1747-1825) · France · On the map · Artists · Died at 78
Dominique Vivant, Baron Denon was a French artist, writer, diplomat, author, and archaeologist. Denon was a diplomat for France under Louis XV and Louis XVI.
Vivant Denon is read about 158 times a day, in 28 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 12 November 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 114 days, one point a day.
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Photos 7
Vivant Denon with Jean Pesne's engraved Oeuvres de Nicolas Poussin, portrait by Robert Lefèvre (Musée National du Château de Versailles)
Engraving by Denon of a Republican costume designed by Jacques-Louis David
Commemorative bust by Joseph Charles Marin, shown at the Salon of 1827 (Louvre)
Plate showing statues of Amenhotep III at Luxor, Egypt. Commissioned by Napoleon as a present to Joséphine but she rejected it. French, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Pavillon Denon at the Louvre
The grave of Vivant Denon, Pere Lachaise Cemetery in ParisAwards
About this person
He was appointed as the first director of the Louvre museum by Napoleon after the Egyptian campaign of 1798-1801, and is commemorated in the Denon Wing of the Louvre museum and in the Dominique-Vivant Denon Research Center. His two-volume Voyage dans la basse et la haute Egypte, 1802, was foundational for modern Egyptology.
