French family of restorers, dealers, cabinetmakers and painters. François-Simon-Alphonse Giroux (d Paris, 1 May 1848) was a pupil of Jacques-Louis David and became a picture restorer, founding his business in Paris at the end of the 18th century. He specialized in genre paintings of medieval ruins and troubadours and bought particularly from a younger generation of artists such as Louis Daguerre, Charles-Marie Bouton (1781–1863), Charles Arrowsmith (b 1798) and Charles Renoux (1795–1846), all of whom painted church interiors. Giroux also admired Gothic art and became the official restorer for Notre-Dame, Paris. His daughter Olympe Giroux and son Alphonse-Gustave Giroux succeeded him in his business. Another son, André Giroux (b Paris, 30 April 1801; d Paris, 18 Nov 1879), was a painter. François-Simon-Alphonse’s firm publicized its stock by holding exhibitions of Old Master paintings and contemporary art and by publishing catalogues of works both for sale and for hire from their premises. After 1828 the firm produced a series of elaborate pieces of furniture in a range of styles from Egyptian to Louis XV, some of which were commissioned by members of the royal family. This was their most lasting achievement, and by 1834 the firm was listed under the heading ‘ébéniste’ in the Annuaire du Commerce.