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This article explores the artistic journey of the engraver Jérôme David between France and Italy. At the end of 1625 Jérôme David settled in the Republic of Venice, where he put himself at the service of many writers who were members of the Academy of the Unknowns. Through this collaboration, he established himself as an illustrator of scholarly writing. This privileged connection with the Unknowns boosted his career, as much in Italy as in France: it was probably thanks to the recommendation system established by the Academy members that he found work in Aix-en-Provence among the circle of Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc, himself a key correspondent of the Unknowns.