[2] He worked for an elite clientele and was called the French Rembrandt as he introduced the Northern European style of portrait painting in France.

[6] In 1704, he married Marie-Gabrielle Petit, a niece of Procopio Cutò, founder of the Café Procope, a meeting place for artists and intellectuals.

Economics may have been a motive in the union, as a notary document in the Archives Nationales reveals that she owned a considerable amount of property on Mauritius; along with slaves and "autres effets mobiliers et immobiliers" (other assets, moveable and immoveable).

His brother-in-law, Matthias François Petit, was the intermediary who, between 1740 and 1753, was commissioned to purchase art for the collection of King Friedrich II of Prussia.

[7] In 1805, he was the subject of a vaudeville entitled "Grimou ou Le portrait a finir", which was staged by Maxime de Redon in Paris.

Grimou developed the moralistic traits in Dutch genre portraits into budding representations of new concept of aesthetic taste.