Daoud Corm

Daoud Corm
1900 self-portrait of Daoud Corm.
Native name	داود قرم
Born	Daoud Corm (1852-06-26)26 June 1852 Ghosta, Lebanon
Died	6 June 1930(1930-06-06) (aged 77)
Nationality	Lebanese
Education	Accademia di San Luca
Known for	Painting
Spouse(s)	Virgine Naaman
Awards	Prize of Honor of Excellence, 1900 Paris Exhibition
Patron(s)	Elias Peter Hoayek.,Sursock family.

Daoud Corm (1852-1930), David Corm in English, was an influential Lebanese painter and the father of writer, industrialist and philanthropist Charles Corm. He was a teacher and mentor to the young Khalil Gibran as well as Khalil Saleeby and Habib Srour.

In 1870 he went to Rome and enrolled at the Accademia di San Luca where he trained under Roberto Bompiani, the Italian court painter. During his five years in Italy, Daoud Corm studied the works of Renaissance artists whose influence was evident throughout his works. He gained official recognition when he was commissioned to paint a portrait of Pope Pius IX (reg 1846-78). Upon his return to Lebanon in 1875, he painted portraits of many Arabs including Abbas II of Egypt (reg 1892-1914) in 1894. 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. Its significant commercial success indicated a growing public interest not only in art viewing but also in art making. 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. Additional recognition of his career includes receipt of the Lebanese Order of Merit and the Ottoman Medal of Glory. In 1930, Daoud Corm died in Beirut at age 77.

Daoud was born in the town of Ghosta, Mount Lebanon in 1852. He was one of three children born to an affluent family of scribes and clerks. His father Sham'un Hokayem, also known by his court title al-Chidiac, was a child prodigy, an accomplished polymath and a polyglot. His mother was from the village of Ghazir. The teenage Sham'un was enlisted as a clerk to Emir Bashir Shihab II and as a tutor to his children. The young princes were contemptuous of their adolescent teacher who lost his temper because of his pupils constant defiance and slapped the eldest of them in the face. When confronted by Emir Bashir, Sham'un exhibited courage and rectitude and justified his act by saying that it was his duty to tutor and educate the princes so that they become worthy of their father's standing. The impressed Emir Bachir replied to Sham'un "by God, you are truly one valiant spirited steed!" and rewarded him with a large purse of gold coins and a permanent appointment as court clerk and instructor which Sham'un would occupy for the next eighteen years of his life. From then on Sham'un was known as Al-Corm, a title that stuck to him and eventually replaced his Hokayem surname. Daoud's mother, Marie Hani, was maid of honor to Emir Bachir's second wife.