Jean-Baptiste Jacques Augustin – alongside Jean-Baptiste Isabey – was one of France’s leading miniaturists at the turn of the 19th century. He painted his sitters’ features with a delicacy and richness of detail and colour that astonished his contemporaries and continues to amaze even today. He created this portrait of Jacques Antoine Duchesne de la Sicotière while at the peak of his artistic ability. The artist proudly presented some of his masterpieces at the Paris Salon. At the 1801 Salon, for example, the interested public was able to admire his likenesses of the Salonnière Julie Récamier, who was known for her beauty, and of the sculptor Charles Antoine Callamard (both in the Musée du Louvre, Paris). The art critics gave Augustin’s creations an enthusiastic reception and their reviews spread the miniaturist’s name far and wide. As a result, he acquired a large number of new customers – including Napoleon and his family.
Jacques Antoine Duchesne de la Sicotière was born in 1777, the son of Jacques Robert Étienne, a member of the Garde du Corps du Roi, and Marie Joséphine Menjaud. He served as Prefect of Orne in Alençon (Normandy), where he died at a great age in 1871. In 1810, he married Jeanne Dorothée Le Sage du Parc, who bore him several children. His son Léon became so active in Alençon as a politician, writer, and patron of the arts that the town constructed the Square de la Sicotière in his honour.