An émigré during the French Revolution, he was entrusted by the royal princes with missions to the Holy See and served during the campaign of Champagne in the Army of Condé.

Appointed chargé d'affaires of France to Florence in 1805, he was recalled in 1807 because he was wrongfully suspected of having employed his power on behalf of the Queen of Etruria, whose possessions Napoleon wished to give to Elisa Bonaparte.

Made censor during the last years of the empire, he became under the Bourbon Restoration secretary of the embassy in Vienna, then again in Rome.

Besides his translation of Dante's Divina Commedia (1811–1813) which was rated very highly, Artaud de Montor left several historical works: Shortly before his death, in 1849 when Pius IX was banished to Gaeta, Artaud de Montor published a work entitled: La papauté et les émeutes romaines.

His recollections and his observations as a diplomat form part of Artaud de Montor's historical works.