Jean-Baptiste Jacques Augustin

It is not known whether Augustin was entirely selftaught as he claimed, or whether he trained as a painter with Claudot and Girardet in Nancy. In 1781, he arrived in Paris, where he worked mainly as a miniaturist and painter of enamels. In 1800, he married his pupil Pauline Ducruet. 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, premier 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. 

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.