Augustin Dupré

Augustin Dupré was a French engraver of currency and medals, the 14th Graveur général des monnaies (Engraver General of Currency).

He began his career as an engraver at the royal factory for weapons. Towards 1770, he became established at Paris, became the student of the sculptor David, and engraved his first medals.

The French Revolution gave him the opportunity to develop his art. Because the change of regime and the monetary reform required a full change of monetary types, a competition, initiated by the painter Louis David, was opened in April 1791 by the Convention nationale. Dupré's design won and was adopted for the new currency, the "Louis conventionnel". Following this success, Dupré was named Graveur général des monnaies by decree of the Assemblée nationale on 11 July 1791. In France before the revolution there were 31 royal mints, but most of them were no more than sinecures. In 1789, there were no more than 17 mints, and Dupré wanted to have a great new mint in Paris to produce all French currency. However, the Assemblée nationale rejected his idea and retained 8 mints: Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux, Bayonne, Perpignan, Nantes, Lille, and Strasbourg. He occupied his official position until 1803, the year in which he was dismissed by a decree of the First Consul of 12 March 1803. He was replaced by Pierre-Joseph Tiolier.

Text courtesy of Wikipedia, 2024