His grandfather was mayor of
Commentry Allier from 1871 to 1873. His mother, Louise Villain, was the daughter of (1830–1907) deputy mayor of Sedan at the end of the 19th century. François Bayet, his son, died in deportation. As a child he was overwhelmed with an infirmity in his legs, which made walking painful and made him suffer all his life; he had to give up the military career his father had followed. He entered the
École normale supérieure in 1912, obtained his
agrégation of letters and was a member of the
École française de Rome from 1917 to 1920. In 1915, he was awarded one of the
Montyon Prizes by the Académie française and the
Marcelin-Guérin Prize in 1933. He taught first in secondary education (at the
Lycée Charlemagne and the Lycée de
Laon), while continuing the preparation of his doctoral theses on ''Les Origines de l'Hercule romain'' and the critical study of the main monuments related to the Etruscan Hercules, which he defended in 1926. He was then appointed to the Faculty of Arts of Caen, before moving to the Sorbonne in 1932. At the Liberation of France, he was appointed Director-General of Education and took part in the work of the . He was elected a member of the
Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 3 December 1948. He was also a member of the
Accademia dei Lincei and of the Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia. Jean Bayet was director of the École française de Rome from 1952 to 1960 (where he succeeded
Albert Grenier and was in turn succeeded by
Pierre Boyancé). In 1954-1955, he presided the Unione internazionale degli Istituti di archeologia, storia e storia dell'arte in Roma. Upon his return, he retired (1961). His last years were obscured by the disease which gradually froze him in immobility. == Works (selection) ==