Jean-Baptiste Jacques Augustin

Augustin, Jean-Baptise, Jacques
(Saint-Dié-des Vosges 1759 - 1832 Paris)
Presumably Augustin never had a master, yet maybe he was apprentice to Claudot and Girardet. In 1781 he came to Paris where he worked as miniaturist and painter on enamel. Between 1791 and 1831 he exhibited continually at the Paris Salon. Among his patrons were some of the most distinguished personalities of his time. Under Louis XVIII he worked for the French and international nobility, besides teaching in his painting school, where he instructed among others Lizinka de Mirbel, Alexandre Delatour and François Sieurac. The authenticity, the warm colours and the outstanding delicacy in his portraits were appreciated. They form a strong contrast to the vibrant and idealizing portraits by his most serious competitor, Isabey. Together with Isabey - though as his definite counterpart - he set the tone of miniature painting for his and the following generation. In 1819 he became first miniaturist of the Chamber and the Royal Cabinet, and in 1821 Knight of the Légion d' Honneur. He married his pupil and assistant Madeleine Pauline Ducruet, some of whose works are often not easy to distinguish from his own. Augustin died of cholera on the 13th of April in 1832.