The impressed Emir Bachir replied to Sham'un "by God, you are truly one valiant spirited steed!" and rewarded him with a large purse of gold coins and a permanent appointment as court clerk and instructor which Sham'un would occupy for the next eighteen years of his life. From then on Sham'un was known as "Al-Corm", a title that stuck to him and eventually replaced his Hokayem surname. Daoud's mother, Marie Hani, was maid of honor to Emir Bachir's second wife. Early biographers relate that friars from the Jesuit College of Ghazir discovered Daoud's drawing skill when he was only nine years old. Corm's talent was furthered in his apprenticeship in the Jesuit college, where the friars pushed him to pursue painting studies in Rome's fine art academy. Corm sold a number of paintings to a local Maronite church to pay for his travels to Rome. In 1870, after several days of foot travel, the eighteen years old Corm arrived in Beirut where he boarded a French ship headed to Naples. He traveled by train from Naples to Rome and resided in the Maronite seminary along with his future patron and Maronite patriarch Elias Peter Hoayek. Corm sought to study under Roberto Bompiani, professor and director of the Accademia di San Luca; he repetitively visited Bompiani's house but the latter's servants did not allow him an interview. Frustrated after weeks of failed attempts, Corm threw down his portfolio and quarreled with the professor's servants. Bompiani was alerted by the commotion and came out to find the foreign looking man disheveled and his paintings scattered on the floor. The professor picked up one of Daoud's paintings and recognizing the young man's potential, he took him under his tutelage. Corm spent the next several years studying at the academy and visiting museums and churches and copying the works of the Renaissance masters. On 24 July 1874, Daoud dispatched a letter to his family informing them that his travel companion to Rome, father Rukoz, promised to introduce him to pope Pius IX. Corm's request to paint the pope and send the portrait back to his parents in Mount Lebanon was met with refusal. Despite this setback, Corm drew the pope the same night from memory. Bompiani was impressed by his student's feat and presented the finished portrait to pope Pius who blessed the painting. The portrait is now part of Vatican Library collection. After his training in Rome, Daoud moved to Belgium where he served as one of the official painters to the Belgian royal family under Leopold II.