Augustin de Saint-Aubin

Unlike Antoine Pesne and Claude-Joseph Vernet, who lived and painted for long periods outside of France, Augustin de Saint-Aubin (1736-1807) spent most of his artistic life in Paris. A draftsman, etcher, and engraver (as were his brothers Charles-Germain de Saint-Aubin and Gabriel de Saint-Aubin), he was approved for the Académie Royale in 1771 and exhibited at its Salon until 1793 even though he never submitted a full reception piece. Saint-Aubin engraved many works after Boucher and others in addition to his own designs (Bocher’s catalog of his engraved work includes more than 1300 entries). He was appointed chief draftsman and engraver at the Bibliothèque Royale in 1776, and he designed and engraved all the illustrations in the two-volume catalog of the gem collection of the Duc d’Orléans (1780-84) (Cayeux 531).