AUGUSTIN DUBOURG (Georges Nicolas T. Augustin)
(1750 - 1800?)
Portrait of a little girl with a dove.
Signed on the left: Dubourg
Watercolor and gouache: 5.5 cm.
Antique French Blond Tortoise Shell Snuff Box: 6.2 cm
Charming portrait of a little girl with a dove by AUGUSTIN DUBOURG (1750-1800?) signed lower left. The miniature is mounted on a gold and blond tortoiseshell snuffbox.
Dubourg was inspired by a pastel by Rosalba Carriera (1673–1757) from which he borrowed the composition. Compare with the Femme tenant dans ses bras une colomber, Dijon, Musée des Beaux-Arts (photo number 5) created by Rosalba Carriera.
What is interesting to note is that the pastel painting was donated to the Dijon museum by the painter and miniaturist Claude-Jean-Baptiste Hoin (1750–1817) in 1817.
The dove was often used as a symbol of purity, innocence and peace. It was frequently used in art as a representation of Virtue.
Georges-Nicolas-Toussaint AUGUSTIN, known as AUGUSTIN-DUBOURG, was born in Saint-Dié in 1750 and died in Paris around 1800. After working in Dijon then in Lyon, he settled around 1791 in Paris as a miniature painter where he exhibited at the Salon du Louvre in 1793, 1798 and 1800.
There is an extensive bibliography on DUBOURG. To consult first:
Bernd Pappe, 'Augustin Dubourg, Augustin fils/neveu et Joseph-Ange Augustin: trois artistes d’une même famille dans l’ombre de leur célèbre parent', in: Nathalie Lemoine-Bouchard (ed.), La miniature en Europe. Des portraits de propagande aux oeuvres éléphantesques, Paris 2013, pp. 58-62.
Excellent original condition, a small chip on the snuff box (photo number 4).
Provenance: Private collection, London
Price: €6200
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Bernd Pappe, 'Augustin Dubourg, Augustin fils/neveu et Joseph-Ange Augustin: trois artistes d’une même famille dans l’ombre de leur célèbre parent', in: Nathalie Lemoine-Bouchard (ed.), La miniature en Europe. Des portraits de propagande aux oeuvres éléphantesques, Paris 2013, pp. 58-62.
Bernd Pappe, 'Jean-Baptiste Jacques Augustin et son atelier à Paris', in: Nicole Garnier-Pelle (ed.), La miniature en Europe, Actes du colloque, Chantilly, 10-11 October 2007, Paris, 2008.
Bernd Pappe, Jean-Baptiste Jacques Augustin 1759–1832, peintre en miniature, exh. cat. Musée Pierre-Noël, Saint-Dié-des-Vosges 2010.
Bernd Pappe, Jean-Baptiste Jacques Augustin 1759–1832, Une nouvelle excellence dans l’art du portrait en miniature, Verona 2015.
Schidlof, Bouchard, Benezit.
MUSEUMS:
Louvre, Tansey coll.n, Briner und Kern, musée Napoléon,MET.
