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.