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holding a quill in her right hand and balancing her artist's portfolio on her lap with her left hand, facing right in white muslin dress, large gem-set gold belt, powedered curling hair dressed “à la conseilleur”, seated in a pink upholstered gilt-wood chair, interior background with classical statue of a lady on top of a column, harpsichord, green curtain with gold tassel, gilt decorated door opening to a fountain and balustrade, foliate background beyond, dated 1791. On ivory Christie's London . An incredible bid for a miniature, in fact a masterpiece, which carried a pre-sale estimate of £ 30,000. Augustin was certainly one the greatest French miniature painters with Isabey, Dumont, Autissier, Laurent, Guérin or Sicardi. Born in St Dié, he had some lessons from Claudot in Nancy and arrived in 1781 in Paris where he soon earned fame. In 1800, he married one of his pupils, Madeleine Pauline Ducruet, who was 22 years younger than him. Augustin and Isabey were the two greatest French miniaturists at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th Century. Augustin was considered as a “naturalist” and Isabey as an “Impressionist”. Th former had many pupils such as Le tellier, Fontallard, G.E Lami, Sieurac, Mlle Delaclazette, Mlle Hue de Bréval and Mme de Mirbel. Though he had a marked preference for Isabey Napoleon nominated Augustin official painter to the Imperial Court. At the Restoration Louis XVII made him painter in ordinary of his cabinet. This miniature, one of the most exquisite he painted, was certainly a masterpiece whereas some other works by him did not reach pre-sale estimates and were unsold in that sale. |
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