François Simonau
François Simonau (1783–1859) was a painter born in Bornhem, in the Austrian Netherlands (now Belgium). He studied in Bruges and later with Antoine-Jean Gros in Paris. In 1815 he moved to London with his brother Pierre, who ran a successful lithography business, while François built a portrait practice with help from Sir Thomas Lawrence and began exhibiting at the Royal Academy and the British Institution from 1818. He also ran a small art school in Commercial Road.
One of his pupils was Emma Jones, who would become Emma Soyer. In 1818 her mother, Elizabeth Jones, a wealthy widow, paid Simonau to devote himself to her daughter. In 1820 Simonau and Elizabeth Jones married, and they lived in Greek Street, Soho, with Emma and her brother Newton. In 1835 the chef Alexis Soyer asked Simonau to paint his portrait; Simonau delegated the task to Emma, who fell in love with Soyer and married him in 1837.
After Elizabeth Simonau died in 1839, François lived with the Soyers at their flat on Charing Cross Road. He outlived his stepdaughter Emma and her husband. Lord Palmerston arranged a pension for him. He died on 26 November 1859 in London, aged 76, and was buried at Kensal Green cemetery beside Emma Soyer and Alexis Soyer.
Style-wise, he began in the Belgian neo-classical tradition but moved away from it, influenced by his Gros-influenced training and by life in England, with a warm use of color.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 05:07 (CET).