Louis Janmot was a French painter and poet from Lyon. He belonged to the Lyon school of painting, with idealistic and mystical tendencies similar to those of the Nazarenes and the Pre-Raphaelites, although Janmot is seen as a transitional figure between Romanticism and Symbolism.

In 1833, Janmot went to Paris to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts under Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. Although his techniques reflect his studies with Ingres, he closely allied himself with Eugène Delacroix, whose enthusiasm for the literature of Dante and Shakespeare he shared.

Janmot’s style combined the precision of Ingres with the meditative devotion of his very first teacher, Orsel. His predilection for heraldic compositions were based on symmetry and repetition.

Janmot postcards were made long after his death. Most the the cards made at the turn of the century do not credit Janmot as the artist but rather the museum, which was common practice in the early 1900's.