26 Facts About Daoud Corm

Daoud Corm, David Corm in English, was an influential Lebanese painter and the father of writer, industrialist, and philanthropist Charles Corm.

Daoud Corm was a teacher and mentor to the young Khalil Gibran as well as Khalil Saleeby and Habib Srour.

Daoud Corm gained official recognition when he was commissioned to paint a portrait of Pope Pius IX.

Daoud Corm was a religious painter and there are many of his paintings in churches across Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Palestine.

In 1912, Corm expanded his artistic enterprise and its public appeal when he opened Maison d'Art, an art supply store and art studio centrally located near Beirut's post office.

Daoud Corm exhibited his work abroad in Egypt and Europe, most notably at the 1889 Versailles Exhibition in France and at the 1900 Paris Exhibition, where he received the Prize of Honor of Excellence.

Daoud Corm was born in the town of Ghosta, Mount Lebanon in 1852.

Daoud Corm was one of three children born to an affluent family of scribes and clerks.

Daoud Corm's father Sham'un [Simeon] Hokayem, known by his court title al-Chidiac, was a child prodigy, an accomplished polymath and a polyglot.

Early biographers relate that friars from the Jesuit College of Ghazir discovered Daoud Corm's drawing skill when he was only nine years old.

Daoud Corm's talent was furthered in his apprenticeship in the Jesuit college, where the friars pushed him to pursue painting studies in Rome's fine art academy.

Daoud Corm sold a number of paintings to a local Maronite church to pay for his travels to Rome.

In 1870, after several days of foot travel, the eighteen years old Daoud Corm arrived in Beirut where he boarded a French ship headed to Naples.

Daoud Corm traveled by train from Naples to Rome and resided in the Maronite seminary along with his future patron and Maronite patriarch Elias Peter Hoayek.

Daoud Corm sought to study under Roberto Bompiani, professor and director of the Accademia di San Luca; he repetitively visited Bompiani's house but the latter's servants did not allow him an interview.

Frustrated after weeks of failed attempts, Daoud Corm threw down his portfolio and quarreled with the professor's servants.

Daoud Corm spent the next several years studying at the academy and visiting museums and churches and copying the works of the Renaissance masters.

On 24 July 1874, Daoud Corm dispatched a letter to his family informing them that his travel companion to Rome, father Rukoz, promised to introduce him to pope Pius IX.

Daoud Corm sought the favors and patronage of this class of bourgeois merchants when he settled back in Beirut in 1878.

Daoud Corm was commissioned portraits for Khalil Bey Sursock in 1882, Mahjet Sursock in 1892, Moussa Sursock and his wife Anasthasia Dagher in 1897.

Daoud Corm benefited from the growing interest in art in Beirut and facilitated the spread of the craft by opening an art supply shop in the center of Beirut in 1912.

Daoud Corm's shop, called Maison d'Art was a commercial success and later included a darkroom for developing pictures of the first handheld cameras.

Daoud Corm himself took interest in the newly introduced technology and took photographs of his family.

Daoud Corm painted his subjects in a three-quarter view in soft light against a dark background.

Daoud Corm paid particular attention to the details of his subjects' social and professional standing.

Daoud Corm painted a great number of religious works that are found not only in his native Lebanon but in neighboring Syria, Egypt and Palestine.