The Tansey Miniatures Foundation

Die Miniatur Über den Künstler

The Tansey Miniatures Foundation

DE
The Miniature About the Artist

Self-Portrait

Louis François Aubry

Both in his original self-portrait in the Louvre and in this miniature from the Tansey Collection young Aubry turns his face to the right whereas the upper part of his body is shown from the front. His fashionable curly hairstyle, his fleecy sideburns and the bright blue waistcoat show him as a self-confident young man who takes pride in his appearance. Aubry was probably inspired by the self-portrait of his teacher Isabey in the Wallace Collection when choosing his posture.1 Aubry led two studios in Paris - one for ladies and one for gentlemen2 - where his portrait of Baroness of Benoist and his self-portrait could be copied by the students. Therefore there are numerous imitations of both portraits.3 This copy in the Tansey Collection is one of the best student works. However, the initials "J. A." do not correspond to any of Aubry's students known today.4
B. P.

1 Isabey's self-portrait was created at about the same time.
2 Gabet, 1831, p. 16.
3 A version by Goubert (1805) is in the Kern donation, Museum Briner und Kern, Winterthur; another by Mme Jaquotot, 1810, is in the Wallace Collection, London, and a copy by Daniel Saint in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Saint-Lô. An anonymous copy was sold at Sotheby's, Geneva, (May 15, 1986, no. 179, Collection Erika Pohl-Ströher, attributed to Aubry), another one at Lepke, Berlin, 1911, no. 280 (Emden collection). Another version was shown in the exhibition in Brussels in 1913 (plate XXXVIII, no. 177). A version that is ascribed to Isabey is kept in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. A small-format version is in the Musée Lorrain in Nancy. Another version was recently acquired by the Fondation Custodia, Paris.
4 Jeannerat (1957) read the initials "F. A." and attributed the miniature to Aubry. Cf. Jeannerat, 1957, p. 26.