AN IVORY MINIATURE OF A LADY, TRADITIONALLY CALLED AUGUSTE AMALIA, PRINCESS OF BAVARIA BY DANIEL SAINT, SIGNED: SAINT DAPRES [SIC] AUGUSTIN, AFTER JEAN-BAPTISTE JACQUES AUGUSTIN, CIRCA 1805 | An ivory miniature of a Lady, traditionally called Auguste Amalia, Princess of Bavaria by Daniel Saint, signed: Saint dapres [sic] Augustin, after Jean-Baptiste Jacques Augustin, circa 1805

oval, wearing a fine blue muslin dress, stamped gilt-metal mount, rectangular ebonised wood frame MN 4227PNB 1440

Eugénie, Empress of the French (1826-1920);
Prince Victor Napoléon (1862-1926);
Prince Louis Napoléon (1914-1997)

Related literature

Bernd Pappe, Jean-Baptiste Jacques Augustin: 1759–1832: une nouvelle excellence dans l’art du portrait en miniature, Verona, 2015

Very light spidery mould and dust on surface of miniature. Some wear and loss to gilding of mount.
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The early nineteenth century fashion for wearing dresses made of sheer muslin with little or nothing beneath, although embraced by the future Empress Joséphine, was decried as indecent by the guardians of public morality and was often the butt of the satirist’s pen. Augustin, through his remarkable technical virtuosity was one of the most successful in depicting this fashion, as may be seen in his portrait of the empress wearing a pink-coloured dress, under which, in the name of modesty, she wears a fine white chemise (Fondation Napoléon, Paris, inv. no. 670, Pappe cat. no. 448). Augustin miniatures of this type were copied by his contemporaries, witness the present miniature, inscribed ‘Saint dapres [sic] Augustin’. The original portrait by Augustin, of identical size, is in a private collection (see Pappe cat. no. 535). It is interesting that Saint, who was a pupil of Isabey, made a copy of a work by his master’s leading rival, the champion of a markedly different style of miniature painting. Another Augustin miniature, depicting a lady wearing a lilac-coloured dress was copied by Mlle Elise Larrieu in 1805 (see Pappe cat. no. 538). In all these miniatures the fall of the dress neckline is identical.