Jean-Baptiste Jacques Augustin

Jean-Baptiste Jacques Augustin was a French miniature painter.

Augustin was born in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges and died in Paris. He might have had some lessons from Jean-Baptiste Claudot and maybe also from Jean Girardet in Nancy. After a few months in Dijon in 1781 he arrived in Paris the same year where he soon earned fame. During the French Revolution days he travelled to Brest (1789) and to Saint-Dié-des-Vosges (1791).

In 1800 he married his pupil Pauline Ducruet, 22 years younger than him. He worked for Napoleon and his entourage and, in 1806, received a gold medal in recognition of his skills. In 1814 Louis XVIII appointed him peintre ordinaire du Cabinet du roi, later peintre des Affaires étrangères, and in 1819 peintre en miniature de la Chambre et du Cabinet du roi. In 1821 he was awarded the Légion d'honneur. In 1791 he exhibited at the Exposition de la Jeunesse, and from then until 1831 he also took part in the Paris Salon. He died of cholera in 1832 and was buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery. Alongside Isabey, Augustin was the most significant teacher of miniature painting of his time; he taught over 400 pupils including Besselièvre, Borel, Comte, Delacazette, Delatour, Fontallard, Mirbel, Sieurac, Sparrgren and Tixier de Ladouce.

Text courtesy of Wikipedia, 2023